Monster Hunter Tri-3U: Love For Ludroth
by Lagiacrus
Summary: Neeshka, a novice hunter for Moga Village, chases a wounded Great Jaggi to the coast only to find it slaughtering the Ludroth. Later, she finds an unharmed Ludroth Egg. This is the story of a hunter and her Ludroth Companion, Citrine.
1. Prologue: A New Hunter Is Born

I ran out of the house excitedly, happy to be going out to play. The village chief's grandson, Alpha, had invited me out again, and now we were chasing each other all around the village.

Suddenly, silence fell upon the village as we heard our beloved hunter returning... Alive. Slung over her back was her magical switch axe and about ten different monster parts... From the Lagiacrus, Lord of the Seas. She had killed it. We could hardly believe it!

It was my life's ambition to be a hunter when I grew up and be the greatest there was! I had told all of my friends about this dream. As she walked past, Alpha decided to push me forward, right into the hunter.

I pulled away immediately and bowed.

"I'm sorry!" I said hastily. She had stopped and was now facing me. Before I knew it, she was on her knees, her eyes level with mine.

"What's your name?" She asked me.

"Neeshka." I replied shyly. She was talking to me!

"So you're the one that wants to be a hunter? I've heard about you." She explained. I looked up and locked gazes with her blue eyes.

"If you set your mind on becoming a hunter, you'll become one. I can see that you are set on becoming one of the greatest hunters?" She asked.

"Yeah!" I said, excitedly.

"Then you'll become one of the greatest hunters. It won't be easy though." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a large dragon-like claw.

"This is a Lagiacrus claw. Keep it with you, it will keep you safe, then maybe one day you'll become the greatest hunter of all." She placed it into my hand and curled my fingers around it. It was heavy, and the tip was sharper then a hunting knife. She smirked as I gawked in wonder at her gift, then patted my head. She stood up and continued on to speak to the chief.

That was the day I was certain that I would become a Monster Hunter. I wasn't expecting it to go the way it did though.


	2. Chapter 1: Funeral Of A Hero

The Lagiacrus and the Ceadeus had long since been killed. None of us had expected their killer, my hero, to be the next to die.

Her funeral was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. We placed her body on the trade ship Argosy, which was past its prime and had long since been replaced and sent it out to sea. Then, Alpha, now the village chief and top archer, fired a blazing arrow and set the ship alight.

As the sun set, the ship vanished beneath the waves, and the almighty flames once fed by the old wood died away. We all shed our final tears, and Alpha went to read out her will. I was only fourteen at the time.

Me and her had become close after that day when she gave me the Lagiacrus Claw, which now hung around my neck. She had taught me all I knew about different monsters. I hadn't been expecting her to leave me anything. But when Alpha read out those words:

"And to Neeshka, my young friend, I leave you my beloved switch-axe, the Red Demon, and my Lagiacrus Armor. Even from beyond the grave, I want to help you become the best Monster Hunter. I'm sure you'll do well."

I told myself that there was no way I could back out of it now. People were counting on me. I would work my way to the top, one big monster at a time. I would start with the Great Jaggi, then move on to the Qurupeco, then to the Royal Ludroth!

I killed my first monster a year later when I was fifteen. It was an Aptonoth.

I killed my first big monster a year after that when I was sixteen. It was a Great Jaggi.

The switch axe, Red Demon, is possibly the best weapon in the whole of the Deserted Island. I'm so powerful and respected as long as I have it, it's unbelievable. Life had never been better for me.

But in all of my fame and fortune, I had forgotten what it meant to be a Monster Hunter. I was more interested in making money and getting fans that killing life-threatening monsters was the least of my worries! She would have been ashamed in me...

But then, I was saved. I was saved by a monster. A Ludroth.


	3. Chapter 2: The Egg

I was on a quest to kill a Great Jaggi that had been causing problems. It was almost dead, but it ended up running away toward the lake where the Lagiacrus used to make its home.

After chasing it, I found myself hiding behind a rock as it had a stand-off with five very angry-looking Ludroth. As the Ludroth struck, the Great Jaggi went insane. The Ludroth were slaughtered before my eyes, and the Great Jaggi soon collapsed and died because of blood-loss.

It was then that I moved to investigate the scene.

Amongst all of the bloody carnage, I could see little cream-coloured eggs dotted with black smudges. On closer inspection, they were smashed, the unborn Ludroth within them leaking out in a river of young guts. I frowned. Sure, I killed a few Ludroth from time to time, but what that Great Jaggi had just done had been completely uncalled for.

Then, amongst the wreckage, I found one single egg – quite possibly the smallest of them all – that was still intact. It hadn't even been touched. With further investigation, it was the only egg that was left alive. A small smile came to my face – the last Ludroth of Moga Woods. I slowly lowered my hands and carefully picked up the egg, treating it like a delicate ornament. I couldn't let this little unborn Ludroth die! Sure, we were meant to loathe monsters, hunt them and wreck their homes, but Moga Woods would not be the same with no Ludroth – and saving this one... I would be doing the next generation of hunters a favour!

Looking around to check for any alive Ludroth or any of the Great Jaggi's lackeys, and finding none, I wrapped the egg in a Kelbi fur cloth and carefully walked home, being careful not to knock the egg too much.

On arriving at the village and showing the egg to Alpha, I took it as no surprise when he freaked out and told me to put it back. Alpha, being the village chief, was brought up traditionally, and what he thought about monsters was that they were the bane of all evil, and no matter what the cost, they must be killed. Felynes and Wyvernians were the only exceptions.

Eventually, I just took to ignoring him.

"Do you KNOW what you've brought into our village!" He said desperately, walking beside me.

"Yeah. An innocent baby with no parents." I said, glaring at him.

"No, you've brought a Ludroth into our village. A MONSTER!" He said sternly.

"I order you to put it back where you found it!"

"And leave it to die! Alpha, this little baby has done nothing to us!" I shouted at him, feeling the baby within the egg shake in my hands, possibly startled by my sudden change of emotion.

He quickly silenced, but his expression didn't change. I knew how to work Alpha, we had been best friends since childhood.

"Well, then what do we do with it?" He asked, crossing his arms, bewildered at the words leaving his mouth.

"I'll raise it, and when it grows up, it could be a useful partner for the fishing fleet." I knew if I brought the village's food income into this, he was bound to say yes. The fish were gone for some reason, the fishing fleet hardly caught any nowadays, and now they were getting me to go out and kill monsters for their meat, they were so desperate.

"Fine, you can keep it. But if it harms a single soul in this village, it dies, okay?" Alpha warned. I rolled my eyes.

"Killing stuff is your solution to everything." I said and strutted past him, into my house.

I set the egg down on the table, making sure the Kelbi Cloth kept it separate from the cold wood, and then something occurred to me.

I didn't know shit about Ludroth care. There was one person who might, though.

Some people say that when he was seven, he cut off a Jaggi's tail just to examine the bones. Others say that he once waltzed right up to a Barroth and asked to see it's teeth so he could see if it was a herbivore or a carnivore. The local kids have taken to calling him Dr. Crazy. But, to me, he's just called Po, the best Monster Expert in the whole of the world. Back when we were kids, he was another of my friends. But now, we don't see each other much any more, because he's always going off to foreign lands to research monsters. He's a total geek, but I do miss him.

Right now, he was here, at least so I had heard. Maybe he had the information I needed.

I got a bowl from the cupboard and kept the egg in it as well as the Kelbi cloth so it didn't roll off the table and smash, then I went outside to see if I could find him. Normally, during his short stays, he would be with Alpha. Sure enough, the two were standing on one of the far docks, talking. Alpha sensed my presence immediately and spun around, Po becoming aware of me a second later.

"Neeshka! Good to see you!" He said happily and pulled me into a bear hug. I laughed and returned it.

"Good to see you're doing well!" I said.

I took him to my house after explaining that I needed his help. He seemed confused until I showed him the wooden bowl with the egg in it. He gasped in wonder and carefully scooped up the egg like it was a fragile artefact.

"This is a Ludroth egg, without a doubt... How did you obtain this?" He asked me, turning to me, absolutely amazed.

"Well, I was hunting a Great Jaggi, and it went on a rampage and killed a group of Ludroth, and when I got to the scene, all of the eggs were smashed apart from this one."

"Amazing... What you saw is one of the rarest sights on earth..." He said to me.

"What, a Great Jaggi toppling five Ludroth in about ten seconds?" I laughed.

He rolled his eyes, sat me down, and went on to explain that when it came to breeding, Ludroth were a lot like turtles. They go onto the shore, dig a large pit in the sand, and then bury their eggs so they stay warm and moisturised until they hatch. What I saw was the Ludroth doing just that, and the only reason the Ludroth reacted so violently to the Great Jaggi was because they feared for their young. Normally they would leave the Great Jaggi alone. Apparently, Ludroth laying their eggs was one of the rarest monster sights in the world, and only a few people including me and himself had seen it.

"So this egg... you said it was the only surviving one after the fight?" Po asked.

"Yeah. It was the strangest thing. All of the ones around it and next to it were smashed, but this one was completely untouched." I explained.

"Now that is unusual..." Po said, furrowing his brow and scratching his chin while examining the egg for any signs of previously unseen damage. He placed the egg back in the Kelbi cloth and sat down.

"Do you need help looking after it?" He asked with a smirk.

"Yeah... I didn't think it was fair to just leave it to die..." I admitted, embarrassed.

"That's nothing to be ashamed of. A baby is a baby, even if it is a monster." He said.

He then went on to give me his notebook on Ludroth. He had a different notebook for each monster, full of notes, both crossed off and outlined. The whole book was full of sketches of Ludroth anatomy, and their different attacks. A little section of the book was on the Royal Ludroth, with size comparison compared to the smaller female Ludroth. When I finally found the section on Ludroth young, I studied it all night as my Felyne companion, Charlson, was polishing my armor and his own set of Jaggi armor which I had bought for him. I examined every page and took every word in, occasionally glancing over at the Ludroth egg lovingly. I never thought I'd be able to get attached to something so quickly, especially not a Monster.

Although, I guess sometimes that's just how things go.

About three weeks later, the egg hatched, revealing a baby Ludroth about the size of a typical puppy. I wrapped her up in her Kelbi cloth and took her outside to show her to Po and Alpha. Po was absolutely thrilled, and insisted on drawing a picture of her for his notes. Alpha was not as thrilled, but pretended to be pleased because he knew he would get battered if he didn't.

"She's a very unique colour... I've never seen a Ludroth this magnificent shade of yellow before..." Po said, peering inside the blanket. The little Ludroth whined at him, upset at being disturbed in her sleep.

She was indeed a very special Ludroth. Unlike her fellow Ludroth, she was closer to a golden colour, while other Ludroth were more of a sick yellow, sometimes even slightly green or orange.

"She's like a Citrine..." Po said. Citrines were golden Gemstones, sometimes found in the caves on the Sandy Plains. Those pesky Melynxes also tended to carry them for good luck.

"That could be her name. Citrine." I said, thoughtfully. The baby Ludroth wriggled its head out of the Kelbi cloth to look up at me with its big, blue eyes.

"Citrine. Do you like that name, Girl?" I asked her. She let out a seal-like cry. It was like she understood what I was saying.

"Okay, Citrine it is!" I said and stroked her back. She let out a happy cry and settled back to sleep.

One Year Later –

I gripped onto Citrine's shoulders for dear life as she zoomed through the water at an incredible speed, unable to keep the smile from my face. Behind us, the much larger Royal Ludroth snapped at us, bubbles rising from it's mouth and nose. I had managed to cut off some of it's sponge at the request of the villagers, but I had pissed him off in doing so. I almost opened my mouth to laugh as Citrine did a playful spin. Suddenly, she leaped out of the water, and I screamed in surprise as she crashed onto the ground and I went rolling in front of her. We had never gotten the hang of that crash-landing...

I rolled onto my back in hysterics, unable to control my laughter. She crawled up beside me and did a series of roars – her version of laughing.

The Royal Ludroth popped his head out of the water, glared at us then dived back down, deciding we weren't worth his time. Citrine as well as Charlson often accompanied me hunting, but today, it was just me and Citrine.

I guess you're wondering how I tell Citrine apart from the other Ludroth? Well, she wears a bandanna around her neck bearing the same symbol the Argosy had on it's sails. If I want to find Citrine in a pack of Ludroth, I look for the bandanna.

Me and Citrine headed home, being stopped by some Jaggi on the way, but we managed to eat them like popcorn. Citrine was an expert at fighting the Jaggi, she had learned that she could keep up with them when they jumped away by sliding across the ground on her belly and biting their noses off. Its actually quite an amusing sight.

Ludroth, if they were on your side, were brilliant allies. Monsters probably were great allies if you befriended them or raised them from birth (most monsters, if not all, were born from eggs). It was something I had suggested to Alpha often since Citrine arrived in the village – everybody loved her, treated her like a true villager! She loved the attention too, and she was such a big help to the hunting fleet as well. Since she had begun fishing with them, they had managed to catch twice as much! Nobody was hungry anymore!

Alpha, staying true to his ways, shot the idea down every time.

He had no idea what the monsters could do for us! Ludroth, we already know that they are handy for fishing! The Jaggi and Baggi would make good hunting companions, tamed Qurupecos would be useful for leading the boats to shore on a foggy night, or calling the hunters in the wilderness to return to the village. Barroth, if its even possible to tame one, would be useful for clearing pathways, and would make pretty good battering rams too. I'm sure riding on one's back would be pretty sweet too!

Alpha just refused to realize how useful monsters could be to us – both dead and alive! He was so stubborn, it really annoyed me! Eventually, I gave up, but one day he would realize just how useful monsters were.


	4. Chapter 3: A New Foe

-Sorry that this chapter is a bit late guys! Been quite busy lately!-

I was out hunting on my own the next day, as Citrine was out with the hunting fleet and Charlson had the day off to visit his family in the Moga Caves. It was an ordinary hunting trip, I killed some Aptonoth to bring their meat back to the village, then beat up a Great Jaggi and then a Royal Ludroth just for the resources. Yep, just an ordinary hunting day.

Then, the most terrifying thing happened. While I was skinning a Jaggia, I found myself in the dark, a shadow looming over me. I looked up, my eyes went wide, and I dropped the hunting knife.

A huge Monster, with large, bat-like wings, four legs, glowing blue eyes, saber teeth and the loudest roar I had ever heard. It swung at me with one of it's claws and sent me hurling into a wall. I got up, panicking, I had no idea where to go or what to do. There was no way I was ready for a creature of that size, I couldn't even defeat a Gobul yet!

It let out another roar and began to walk towards me, ready to attack again. It lunged, I ran like a mad person. It hit the rocky cliff and roared in rage and pain. I ran as fast as I could, praying to the Guardian Lagiacrus that it wouldn't follow me to the village.

When I reached the gates, I looked behind me, and discovered that it hadn't followed. All was peaceful again, I never even heard it roaring. The Kelbi bounced around at my sudden appearance and I heard the howl of a Great Jaggi calling its lackeys. As I sighed in relief, I wondered what that beast was. I had seen nothing like it before.

When I got back to the village, I met up with Citrine and Po(who was currently visiting), and asked Po if he knew of any creatures matching the Monster's description.

"Are you sure it didn't have two legs? It could have been a Rathalos or a Rathian..." He asked.

"No, it had four legs, I'm sure of it." I replied.

"Weird... There's no monster like that in existence besides the Altraeon, but they don't have saber teeth, mane OR blue eyes..." Po went into my house, where he was storing his huge box of his various notebooks to look at them in hopes of finding the right creature, but no matter how hard we looked, we found none that matched.

"Interesting..." Po said as he placed his notebook on Barioths back in the box. Citrine began to flick through the pages of a still open old book with her nose. I watched her for a second with an eyebrow raised. Po took the book off of her and she let out a cry of protest. Po patted her head in apology and placed the book with the others on the shelf.

It had been about a week. Po had been working non-stop to try and gather all of the info he could on the creature, so far with little avail. Right now, I was having a tug-o-war with Citrine and he was sitting at my desk, flipping through ancient books on monsters he had gathered during his travels. He could find information on many Monsters that I had never even heard of before, like the Deviljho, the Jhen Mohren and other monsters like the Alatreon, but there was no Monster that matched the description I had given in any of the books, even the oldest and biggest one there.

"Well, Neeshka... It may be possible that you have discovered a new Monster. Congratulations!" He said to me with a smile.

"I wouldn't go congratulating me just yet. That Monster is not to be underestimated, we have to kill it before it hurts somebody!" I said to him.

"Well, that's your job, isn't it? Go out into the woods and observe it's behaviour, and maybe you'll learn how to defeat it." Po said.

"Isn't it your job to observe them though?" I asked with a sly smirk.

"Yes, it is, but I'm going away today. I need to sail to the Tundras to observe Barioth behaviour." He said, showing me his notebook on Barioths, which was only half-full. I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks." I said sarcastically, and he looked at me apologetically.

I decided to go and find the monster, and gather facts about it on my own. I took Citrine with me, and the two of us advanced cautiously towards the area next to the Jaggi nest, where I had met it last.

And indeed, there it still was.

I got a better look at it this time. It was a pinkish red in colour, about the same size as a Lagiacrus and it resembled a royal ludroth, as it had mane, except this mane was made out of fur rather than sponge. It had four saber teeth, two on it's bottom jaw and two on it's top jaw. It had Felyne-like paws and a scaled tail with a large tuft of fur on the end of it. It had two huge bat wings with two spikes on each wing. I had a feeling I might have been dealing with an Elder Dragon.

I quickly drew a sketch of it. My drawing wasn't the best, but it was good enough - then began to write down some notes on its appearance, then I expressed concern that it might have been an Elder Dragon. It was asleep, so I decided that I could take some samples from it back to the village for Po, when he returned from his voyage. I told Citrine to wait where she was and began to sneak forward, hunting knife in between my teeth. I was aiming to cut off some of it's mane. It had enough of it anyway, it wouldn't mind giving some up.

I got right up to it and wrinkled my nose. The Beast smelt REVOLTING. I crept up to it's neck, where most of the mane was, grabbed a tuft of it and then used my hunting knife to chop it off. The creature moved and gave a snort, but to my relief, it never awoke. I shoved the fur into my pouch and began to creep back to Citrine, who was throwing her head back in an attempt to get me to speed up. I couldn't, out of fear that if I went much faster, I could wake up the unknown beast.

The second we were in to another area, we ran as fast as we could back to the village. On returning, I showed the severed mane to Alpha. He furrowed his brow and scratched the back of his head as he stared at the bristly mane in his hand. "This is unlike anything I've seen before..." He said with worry. He handed it back to me and I pocketed it. His blue eyes looked me up and down and I gave him a questioning look.

"I don't want you fighting this beast without being completely prepared, okay?" He ordered.

"Yes, Your Highness." I said and walked back to my house. I looked behind me and saw him shaking his head in anger as he turned to help unload the trade ship that had just arrived.

I discovered with shock that Citrine was already in the house. The bookshelf had been knocked over, and books were scattered everywhere. Citrine was lying amongst them, leaving water stains from her damp body on the book covers. The same old book from earlier was lying open, Citrine flipping through the pages with her nose. All I could do was look in horror at the fallen bookcase, then to the now wrecked book, then to Citrine flipping through the pages.

"CITRINE!" I shouted. She jumped, looked up at me, shrunk in fear then let out a feeble cry, begging for forgiveness.

"What have you done, you silly Ludroth?" I asked, beginning to slide all of the books from underneath her and stack them on my bed. I then pushed the bookcase back into place. Where was Charlson, he should have been keeping an eye on the house!

I read through all of the books, checking them for any serious damage. Any that were now completely unreadable, I walked out onto my house's balcony where I kept my item box, then lugged them into the water. I put any that had been unharmed or were only a bit damaged back in the bookshelf. When I came back in, I saw that Citrine hadn't moved once, she was still on the floor, using her nose to flick through the pages. She looked at me as I came in and gave another apologetic cry. I just rolled my eyes and gave her a pat on the head. She was such an innocent Ludroth, always worried about me being mad at her. It was quite cute.

I sat down on the floor beside her and looked at what she was reading. It was a book that belonged to my father, who had been a great monster researcher. It had details of all of the legends of this world, whether they be about monsters or magical items. Either way, they were all here. She pushed another page over with her nose, and then looked at me and gave a cry. I looked down at the page she had stopped on.

There was a crystal on it, dubbed simply as the 'World Crystal', and it showed a picture of a pink crystal in the shape of raw diamonds. The book said that the World Crystal, if activated, would take the user to another dimension. Why did Citrine stop on this page?

I gave the Ludroth a questioning look. She gave me another cry, then looked in the direction of Moga Woods, like she was looking at the monster. I thought about it for a second, and then it dawned on me.

Citrine thought that the monster wasn't a new monster, but was from another dimension!

I took the book and showed it to Alpha. He found me and Citrine's new theory very understandable.

"Now that we know where the beast has come from, we need to try and find a way to either kill it or chase it back to its home dimension." He said to me.

"You just leave that to us." I said to him with a grin. Me and Citrine began to walk away to hatch a plan...


	5. Chapter 4: A New Friend

I yawned. Me and Citrine had been here for over four hours. This beast had been sleeping the whole time! We had gotten nowhere in our research at all! We didn't know its strengths or weaknesses!

I took one look at Citrine and knew what we had to do. We would just have to face it and learn from experience.

I found a few rocks by my feet. These would do for waking it up. I lifted one and aimed...

I felt a hand on my shoulder and was about to scream, when I felt another hand cover my mouth.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing! Do you have a death wish!" A male voice shouted behind me. I yanked my mouth away viciously.

"Who are you!" I hissed. I broke from his grip and spun around with my hunting knife at the ready, and gasped.

He was a hunter, but with a monster armor unknown to me. It was a light blue, made out of scales and what looked like popo pelts.

"Who... are you?" I asked again, more shocked than angry.

"That doesn't matter right now. We need to get away from that, now!" He said, pointing at the sleeping monster. He grabbed my hand and pulled me away into another area, a bewildered Citrine crawling after us, roaring in confusion.

The two of us sat at base camp, Citrine swimming in the water down by the docks.

"So, mind telling me who you are?" I asked coldly. He let out a smirk, almost unsurprised at my ferocity.

"My name is Suzaku. I'm a monster hunter like you." He told me.

"I can see that." I said, pointing to the huge Longsword on his back, unlike any I had seen before.

"You wouldn't mind telling me where I am, would you?" He asked, and I gave him a confused look.

"We call this place the Deserted Island..." I said slowly, wondering if I was dreaming or not.

"...How did you not know that?" I asked a second later.

"Oh, I'm not from around here, as you can probably see..." He said, smiling sheepishly.

"If you're not from here, where are you from? The Tundras? Sandy Plains?" I asked.

"No... I'll be honest with you, I'm from another dimension." He told me. My eyes went wide. This day was getting weirder and weirder.

"Have you ever heard of World Crystals?" He asked. I suddenly remembered the page Citrine showed me of the pinkish crystals.

"Yeah." I replied.

"That beast is known as the Teostra. He's one mean son of a bitch. He swallowed a world crystal and I tried to kill him in order to retrieve it. He got a bit upset about that, and somehow managed to activate the crystal and fly through a portal going to this dimension. Luckily, I managed to follow him by hitching a ride on his tail, although he almost threw me off many times. Since then, I've been trying to find a way to defeat him without triggering him to run. So far, I've had little success." He explained.

"So let me guess. Until he goes back through, you're stuck here?" I asked.

"Well yeah, that's another problem. If he was to go back and I wasn't there to hitch a ride, I'd be stranded here, so that's another reason I need to kill him and retrieve the crystal." He told me.

"Well, we're wasting time standing here. How do we approach him?" I asked.

"We can't, because he's not stupid. He knows who I am by now and something tells me that he knows you too. I saw what he did to you while you were killing those pink wyverns. He must have been enraged by the wounds I gave him." He said, leaning back and crossing his arms behind his head. My back suddenly became sore as I remembered getting slammed into a wall. He noticed my facial expression and was quick to apologise for the Teostra's behaviour. I heard Citrine jumping out of the water and hitting the ground a while away.

"Before we do anything about the Teostra, we need to come up with a plan. We should probably get more hunters to help us while we're at it." He began.

"I know some people who could help, but they are a few weapons short of a hunter." I said with a grin. He tilted his head to the side questioningly.

I went on to tell him about Po and Alpha, and the village's hunting fleet. Alpha was skilled with anything long-ranged, from a bow and arrow to a heavy bowgun, and Po was good at giving facts and tips for hunting. The Hunting Fleet were always looking to best me, and would no doubt help just to impress me.

"We're going to need more than that, especially if we want to kill it before it goes home. No hunter I've ever met can defeat a Teostra. Its almost like they're immortal." He said with a hint of worry.

"Trust me, they are capable of more than you think." I said with a playful smile. I hauled him up and we began to leave base camp, Citrine crawling along behind us.

About half an hour later, I went around introducing him to Alpha and the Blackspears, because the rest were away fishing. While Alpha wasn't so keen on the new hunter, the Blackspears were asking him all sorts of questions about the types of fish he got in his world.

While Suzaku was talking to the Blackspears, I went to converse with Alpha.

"There's one problem about this new hunter." He said to me as I approached, and he scowled as I rolled my eyes.

"What minor problem would that be, Your Highness?" I had taken to calling him Your Highness because of his stuck-up attitude.

"...We have nowhere for him to sleep."

My heart sank. I knew what he was thinking as a smirk began to inch slowly across his face.

"No way!" I shouted.

"Well, you do have a double bed, Neeshka." He spoke smugly. I wanted to punch him, but I knew better.

"Well, where does Po usually stay when he visits?" I ask desperately.

"On the trade ship that takes him to other lands. He has his own personal cabin. Quite roomy, apparently." He stated. I rolled my eyes and let out a groan of annoyance.

"Neeshka, its only until you slay the monster. Then you can kick him out if you want, but we need him here if we want to know how to approach the monster." He said. I sighed, knowingly.

"You're right. But its gonna be awkward." I said with a snort.

"Everybody has to do things they don't like once in a while, Neeshka. And who knows, you might grow to like it." He smirked again and I scowled.

Suzaku met up with me again about ten minutes later and I reluctantly told him that he would have to stay with me since there was nowhere else.

"That doesn't sound so bad." He responded with. I grabbed his hand and pulled him into my house, and he noticed the double bed and the severe lack of other beds.

"Oh." He said, quietly.

"Yeah." I replied. I caught him looking at me through the corner of my eye and felt my cheeks heat up. What was this feeling? It was almost like I was... _excited_ about this!

He moved to the opposite side of the bed from me, took his weapon from his back and sat it against the wall. Then, he began to remove his armor and hang it on one of the free armor stands that I hung above my bed. I gawked at him. Was he honestly undressing in front of me!

"What are you doing!" I said, not knowing what else to say.

"Uhh, taking my armor off? You don't sleep with yours on, do you? That doesn't look at all comfy." He said, pointing to my battle-worn Lagiacrus armor with a smirk.

"No, its just a bit weird, that's all." I said, bewildered. He was eventually down to his shorts and climbed into _my_ bed. I groaned, wondering what I had gotten myself into, and began to remove my armor. I was down to shorts and a tank top in a few moments. I placed Demonbane against my bedside table. For some reason I liked to keep it close to me at all times. Then, I crawled into bed beside him, and shut off my mushroom light with a quick clap of my hands. We lay in the dark, completely silent. All I could hear was Citrine preparing to dive into the water to find a place to sleep for the night.

...Well, this is the most awkward situation I had ever been in. Even more awkward than that time I fell out of a tree, ripped my rather pathetic Qurupeco armor and landed in a nest of Jaggi.

"Do you not feel the tiniest bit awkward?" I asked him through the darkness.

"Not really. It's not like we're together or anything." He replied, drowsily.

"We've just met and we're already sleeping in the same bed. Things are moving a bit quickly." I stated with a sneer.

"Oh, hush up. If I don't get my eight hours sleep, I'm an enraged Tigrex." He said.

"What's a Tigrex?" I asked, confused.

"I'll tell you in the morning..." He said with a yawn, and that was the last word I heard from him until morning. I finally shut my eyes a while later, realizing that he was quite warm compared to the coldness I normally felt at night. Off in the distance, I heard a Great Jaggi call its minions, and then slowly, I fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 5: Great Jaggi and Suspicions

The next morning was an unusual one. I woke up and saw Suzaku sitting on the little dock with his feet in the water. He was watching Citrine swim and laughed whenever she did a roll in the water, creating little waves.

"Citrine likes you." I said with a smile, getting out of bed and checking that the Demonbane was still where I left it last night. Of course, it was.

"She's a beautiful creature. What is she?" He asked, looking at me.

"She's what we call a Ludroth." I explained.

"That's a bit of an ugly name for such a majestic beast." Suzaku said with a laugh.

"Well, they aren't exactly considered our friends. I found her as an egg and raised her." I told him, sitting down beside him.

"So they are just typical monsters then." Suzaku laughed and stroked the ridge of Citrine's left eye as she surfaced in front of him.

"I'll tell you something I've never told anyone. Since the day I found her, I haven't killed a single Ludroth." I said to him.

"Really?" He said, surprised.

"Yeah. I've only ever cut their tails off of removed some of their sponge for the resources." I explained. He was amazed that I could go so long without killing a certain type of monster.

Later on, we ventured outside to prepare for our day. We were standing on the edge of one of the ports. We looked back and saw the Fishmongress giving Citrine a sushifish.

"So how come you don't kill Ludroth? Surely she doesn't know any better?" He asked.

"There's a reason for that too." I began, remembering.

"When Citrine was still a baby, I went out on a quest that required some troublesome Ludroth to be slain. Little did I know that she had followed me out of the village and when I was about to give a final blow to one of the Ludroth, she appeared and roared at me in anger. Then, she lunged at me and bit my wrist. The mark is still there." I told him the story.

"So she's merely defensive of her race." Suzaku said, understanding.

"Yeah, but since then, I haven't killed a single Ludroth. Citrine deals the final blow for me if they attack me though." I said with a laugh.

"Yo, Neeshka-chan!" I heard a sweet, high-pitched voice call from behind me. I looked around and saw the Guild Sweetheart looking back at me with her huge, friendly blue eyes. After I had done my first few quests, she had told me to just call her Ruby.

"Hey Ruby, what's up?" I asked, standing up to meet her. She was considerably shorter than me and had to look up at me with those childish eyes whenever she was talking to me.

"I've just got an urgent quest in! It's really interesting!" She said to me.

"Well, let's see it then!" I said with a smile. She rushed to look through all of her quest papers then frowned.

"Oh, I think I left it at the desk!" She began to run towards the desk. Me and Suzaku quickly followed. She did a front flip over the desk, causing the Felyne chef to yowl in surprise. She landed, spun around and flicked through all of the quest papers rapidly. I sighed, knowing that every one of those papers was for me.

"Ah, here it is!" She held up a bit of paper and handed it to me. I looked at the picture on it and saw a question mark. Hang on, were they making me fight an Alatreon!

I tried to calm down and read the description of the quest.

"Strange blue Wyverns have been sighted on the Deserted Island. Find and kill three of these creatures, and collect their details." It read.

"It does sound interesting..." I placed the paper back on the desk and looked at Suzaku, who seemed to be thinking.

"You up for a little quest, Suzaku?" I asked.

"Oh, sure!" He said, wondering what he had just agreed to.

I equipped my Lagiacrus armor and placed the Demonbane on my back, and set out towards the Moga Woods, Suzaku struggling to follow.

As we crossed the rough terrain down to the waterfall, keeping our eyes peeled for any blue wyverns, we spoke little.

"You okay?" I asked him, worriedly.

"Yeah, just feeling a bit homesick." He said with a small, nervous smile. Silence fell again, much to my frustration. I really wanted to get to know him, for some reason. Citrine barked behind us, and our attention was snapped to the pathway heading towards the Jaggi nest. A great Jaggi and two little Jaggi came running. They were tired and wounded. At first I thought that the Teostra had spotted them, but then I saw what was chasing them.

Three Bird Wyverns, blue in colour with piercing yellow eyes and a beak-like mouth entered the area and crouched threateningly, their gazes averted to the Jaggi. One of the blue wyverns was a lot larger than the other two with more vibrant markings.

"Velociprey and Velocidrome!" Suzaku shouted in shock. I smirked.

"Old friends of yours?" I asked. He looked at me with a grin, realizing what I meant.

"You could say that."

Suddenly, he launched forward, his longsword coming down on the Velocidrome's head in a bluish-silver arc. The huge Drome let out a cry of pain and blood gushed from its eye. The Velociprey launched into action immediately, but Citrine was quick to stop them from hurting Suzaku. She did a body slide, slammed into them and sent them hurling into the area that they had just come from.

I burst to life with my switch-axe, attacking the Velocidrome from one side while Suzaku attacked the other. Suddenly, it snapped at me, knocking me to the ground. Suzaku gasped and slashed at the Velocidrome's hide, trying to direct its attention away from me. As it turned around to face him, I shot back up and slashed rapidly with Demonbane, leaving purple burn marks on the Velocidrome's skin, causing it to scream in rage and jump away. It tried to run but the Great Jaggi stood in its way. It roared at the Velocidrome, sending it scurrying back towards us.

Was the Great Jaggi helping us? I shook my head in doubt, there was no way that it was helping us.

Suzaku launched himself at the Velocidrome again, cutting away at it until it gave up the fight and collapsed. Citrine finished off the Velociprey and dragged one of the bodies over to us.

"Good girl!" I laughed and patter her on the head. I heard a growl behind us and looked around cautiously. I saw the Great Jaggi looking at us, almost as if it was regarding us. Then, it seemed to nod at us, then it picked up one of the dead Velociprey and limped away. I watched it go curiously.

"It didn't attack us..." I went, baffled.

"Look at the size difference!" Suzaku gasped. The dead Velociprey had been placed by one of the Jaggi that had died of blood loss.

"The Velociprey are huge!" The Velociprey were twice the size of the Jaggi, and were at least the same height of a short Qurupeco.

"These are the pests I've got to deal with in my land." Suzaku said, then he showed me his armor, which I realized was made out of Velociprey scales.

"Wow..." I reached over and ran my fingers over the sapphire scales that protected his torso. I glanced up and saw him looking at me with a questionable smirk.

"Hi." I said with a nervous smile.

"Hey." He replied. I saw a blush spread across his cheeks but shrugged it off and backed away. He suddenly slumped, relaxed. Had he been tense the whole time I was close to him? Once again, I shrugged it off.

On our way back to the village, the Velociprey hoisted over his shoulder, Suzaku told me about the Velociprey. They were very similar to the Jaggi.

"I think they may have followed the Teostra through the portal he made." Suzaku stated. I listened to the sound of his voice, thinking about earlier. Why... Why had he blushed? Did he like me!

Why do I feel myself blushing!

I quickly shook my head and picked up my pace, causing Citrine to let out a grunt of objection. She could only move so fast on land.

"Hey Neeshka, why is your face all red?" Suzaku asked, in a innocent curiosity that startled me.

"No reason!" I snapped. I could practically sense him rolling his eyes.

"You have the hots for someone, don't you? That blush has been on and off all day!" He joked.

What! It had!

After completing the quest, Po immediately took the Velociprey to examine it. Later, he told us that it was exactly the same as the Jaggi, just larger. The insides, the brain, it was all exactly the same. He had already started filling a notebook of their details. Suzaku sat with him, giving him additional information that the corpse couldn't tell him.

In the mean time, me and Citrine were sitting on the edge of the Redspear dock, Citrine had her head on my lap and was resting. Every so often, she sneezed, sending small sprays of leftover water into the air. I laughed, and stroked the ridges of her eyes, and she growled contentedly.

"Citrine? What do you think of all of this?" I asked her. She raised her head and looked at me with her sapphire blue eyes. She let out a questioning grunt.

"Do you really think Suzaku and all of these monsters are from other worlds?" I asked. She let out a series of barks and nodded her head before she rested it on my lap again. Citrine seemed convinced, and she seemed to know these things, so I believed her...


	7. Chapter 6: New Age

The sun rose over the mountainous island, and the local Qurupeco gave its morning call. At first, I smiled as I felt the sun on my face, then my eyes shot open with shock. Something was holding me...

Suzaku! Shit!

He had his arms wrapped around my waist, and it took some effort to prise him off me without waking him. As I got off the bed I saw Citrine snorting in laughter. I slapped her nose playfully.

Still in shock from what I had woken up to, I decided that today's quest could probably be done without the help of Suzaku and quickly put on my armor. Me and Citrine ventured outside, the blaring sunlight stinging my eyes. Deciding to get my quest over with bright and early, I wondered over to Ruby, who was flicking through a stack of questpapers. She saw me coming over and smiled.

"Neeshka-chan, hey!" She spoke happily.

"Hello Ruby, any quests for me today?" I asked. She shut her eyes to think and then opened them again with a frown.

"No new ones, just some harvesting requests you haven't done yet. Feel like picking mushrooms?" She joked. I rolled my eyes at her.

"I think I'll pass."

"HUNTRESS!" A voice shouted. I looked in the direction of the entrance to Moga Woods and was met with the sight of a charging man, he wasn't anybody I knew so he must have been a traveller.

"Can I help you, Sir?" I asked as he stopped in front of me. He took a second to regain his breath and then asked:

"Are you Neeshka, the famous Monster Huntress?"

"Yes, I am." I replied.

"There's something going on in the woods! I was on my way here after leaving my boat in the lake, and I heard the sound of two huge monsters fighting! I didn't see what they were but one sounded like a Rathian or a Rathalos." He explained.

"Two monsters fighting, huh? I'll go check it out then." I said with a smirk, glad to have something to do. Citrine barked and began to crawl over to the entrance to Moga Woods. I began to follow her when Suzaku emerged from the house, with a triumphant smirk plastered on his face.

"Thought you were leaving without me, eh?" I pretended to ignore him and kept walking. Noticing I wasn't interested, he quickly ran to catch up.

As we walked, I explained what we were doing to him.

"So there's two monsters fighting and we have to check it out?" He stated.

"Pretty much. With some luck they might break up on their own and we won't have to get involved." I said. Although, knowing our luck, we were probably as good as dead.

Eventually, he heard the roars and squeals of two monsters over the clifftops.

"It's coming from the nests!" I said, and quickened my pace. Citrine began to run ahead.

We arrived into the cave and looked up at the ledge that went to the nests. The roars were amplified by the little room there was in the tunnel going up to the open, but we had no choice. We climbed up the ledge, but Citrine couldn't climb. I told her to wait there and we'd be back soon. She was annoyed but obliged, and settled down on a rock to sleep.

We advanced up the tunnels, and eventually we reached the nests. There was a huge nest containing two eggs and two unoccupied small nests. Standing over the two eggs was one pissed off Rathian, and facing her was the...

"Teostra!" Suzaku shouted.

Indeed it was the Teostra. He roared ferociously at the heavily wounded Rathian and prepared to attack again. I looked at the eggs, Rathian eggs. This Rathian hadn't picked the fight, had she? The Teostra was trying to steal her eggs!

"We need to help her." I said.

"Huh!" Suzaku gasped, shocked.

"She needs help! The Teostra wants her eggs!" I said to him. I looked at the Rathian's bleeding wounds worryingly.

"I don't think she's gonna live much longer."

Not waiting for Suzaku to object, I darted forward and realized that he was following, sword unsheathed. I threw Demonbane forward and watched it unravel, smirking as the axe clicked into place. The Rathian knew we were there, but for some reason, she didn't object. She roared at the Teostra and a fireball launched from her mouth. It slammed the Teostra in the face, causing the pink beast to rear up on his hind legs. Suzaku launched forward and slashed at the beasts' stomach. I guessed that he was trying to cut it open to see if he could get the crystal back. I dashed forward to help him, the Demonbane leaving deep purple wounds on the beasts' stomach. The Teostra dropped and we rolled away, moving back to the front of the Rathian. The Teostra roared, and with a mighty beat of his wings he took off and was soon out of sight. We had saved the Rathian and her eggs. Now, we were both ready to be Rathian food. We heard her roar and were prepared to be eaten, but when we turned around, she was roaring in the direction the Teostra had flown in, but her roar faltered to a painful squeal and she dropped to the ground, shaking the floor. I ran to her after sheathing Demonbane and knelt down beside her head. She looked at me with pained, shining green eyes. She let out a low growl and lifted her head slightly. She looked at me, then to her eggs, then back to me.

"You're kidding." I said, although I knew she couldn't understand me. She wanted me to raise the eggs in her place! But did that mean...

"Suzaku, what do we do? She's dying..." I said, placing me hand on her nose. She growled softly and shut her eyes, leaning into my touch. We had saved her eggs... And now she wanted us to protect them.

"I don't know Neeshka, normally our job is to kill these things!" He said in annoyance. He was probably wondering why we didn't just slit her throat. I looked back to the Rathian. She growled again.

"...I'll protect them from the Teostra. You can rest peacefully." I said to her. She growled in response. Suddenly, her eyes began glowing. Two misty beams of green light drifted from her eyes, merged and flew into my hand placed on her nose.

"Did she just..." Suzaku was clearly amazed.

"What? What did she do?" I asked, worried.

"Every Rathian has what's called a Mother's Essence. It allows the babies to find their mother if they are lost, and to identify her from other Rathians. She has passed hers on to you. In other words, the minute these babies hatch, they'll see you as their mother." Suzaku explained. I looked back to the Rathian with shock. I discovered that my hand was no longer on her nose, instead her head was on the ground, and her breathing had stopped... She was gone.

I silently stood up and went over to one of the eggs. I picked it up in my arms.

"You take the other one." I said.

"You're not actually going to look after them are you!" He gasped. I smiled.

"I have a plan, and these two babies are going to play a big part."

Not every monster had to die. The Rathian had shown me that. I almost didn't feel like a Monster Hunter any more. I had Citrine, my best friend and she was a monster. Now, I also had these two babies.

Maybe, rather than killing them, we could use them. They could be our partners, and we could be theirs. Like the Felynes, we get on fine with them, why not the others?

Yeah, every so often, there will be a wild monster that stirs up trouble, and that's when the Monster Hunters step in – riding on the backs of their monster companions.

Could this maybe be the start of a new age in Monster Hunting?


	8. Chapter 7: Full Moon

On returning to the village, it suddenly dawned on me that the villagers wouldn't approve of us returning with two Rath eggs. It had taken them almost a year to warm up to Citrine, and she was only a Ludroth! The villagers would have executed us had we walked in with the Rath eggs.

So I suggested the farm. They loved me there, and the only person that visited the farm was me. They would no doubt agree to help us hide and even raise them. Suzaku wasn't convinced. He seemed to think that we should take them back to the nest and come and check on them every day, but I didn't feel comfortable with that. Since their mother was dead, another Rathian might nest there instead, and she could have destroyed the eggs to make way for her own. Plus, I felt better knowing that when we weren't watching them, somebody else was.

We stopped at the Village gates and slipped into the tunnel that went to the farm, making sure nobody from the village had seen us doing so. When we arrived on the tiny cliff that was the farm, we were welcomed warmly by the Head Farmer and his Felyne workers. I was quick to explain our dilemma. The Felynes, being classed as monsters themselves, said that they would take them to their village and bring them back when they were about to hatch. The farm and the village were linked by a large tunnel which I had used occasionally for mining.

As the Felynes struggled with the eggs into the tunnel, I discussed with the Head Farmer about some mushrooms I had gathered. Citrine was chasing after Poogie, who was high tailing it around the farm like he had a barrel bomb shoved up his ass. Suzaku was surrounded by Felynes who were interested in his foreign armor, weapon and accent.

When the Felynes that had carried the eggs returned, they told us they had made a bed of hay for them to keep them off the cold ground. There were also two Felynes in charge of keeping the eggs warm. I was so pleased that I gave every Felyne present a hug. I noticed the male ones were all blushing when I put them back down.

Knowing that the eggs were in good hands, we went back to the village. The sun was slowly vanishing and the sky grew dark. When we returned to the village, the traveller who had informed me of the battle asked what the commotion had been. I decided to lie and say that a Rathian and a Great Jaggi were having a face-off. They had broken up on their own. He sighed with relief and thanked me warmly for investigating. I noticed that Suzaku was glaring at the man. I was confused and wondered if Suzaku had met him before, but that wasn't possible, was it? As the traveller left to gather supplies, I turned to Suzaku and crossed my arms. He seemed confused.

"What's up with you?" He asked.

"Why were you glaring at that man?" I asked him, ignoring his question. His eyes widened.

"I was glaring at him? I had no idea!" He said in shock. Somehow it seemed fake. His glare had seemed more like a jealous glare, now that I thought about it...

Maybe he never got as much praise as me back in his dimension. Maybe he just wished he was famous, like me. But if that was the case, he would have glared at me and not the traveller.

Confusing...

Alpha approached me with a broad smile plastered on his face.

"Somehow I have a feeling you were lying about what you told him." He said, tilting his head to the side in the direction of the traveller.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You said they broke up on their own, right? You never had to get involved?" He said.

"Yes." I replied, sternly, refusing to break eye contact with him.

"Then why do you have blood on your armor?"

My eyes widened and I slowly looked down. I winced. Seeing the blood that had stained my Lagiacrus armor's rough turquoise surface was like seeing thousands of monsters charging at you – absolutely horrifying.

It was only because Alpha had just seen right through me!

"So, what happened really?" He asked, leaning against his bow, which was lodged between two planks of wood so he didn't slip and look like an idiot as he went.

"Like I told him, a Rathian and Great Jaggi were facing off." I lied. I decided to pretend to be honest and just lie further.

"The Jaggi attacked so I killed them, and had to get out of there before the Rathian turned on me. I just didn't want to tell him that." I said to him. It pained me to talk about that Rathian like she was just another monster.

He glared at me with narrowed eyes for a few seconds. I could sense Suzaku behind me, I could almost feel him glaring at Alpha also. Seriously, what was up with him? It was almost like he was jealous of every man who talked to me!

"Fine, I believe you." He said with a nod, his stern expression changing to a childish one, with wide sparkling eyes and a cheesy grin. I had to laugh...

"I was only testing you." He stated, before ruffling my hair and walking off, pulling his bow from between the boards as he did so. Suzaku walked forward so he was standing beside me.

"That was a close one." He said with a smirk. I nodded, shaking slightly. Alpha would never speak to me again if he learned of the Rath eggs...

The sun vanished completely behind the mountains and the moon rose up from the sea. It was a beautiful full moon tonight, it illuminated the whole village. I was sitting on the little dock attached to my house, my feet in the water, watching Citrine swim in graceful patterns. I laughed as she jumped out of the water and into the air, did a back flip and slipped back into the water. In her absence while she was underwater, I found my eyes drawn to the shining full moon.

This night was much like the night of her funeral... My hero...

I remembered her smiling face as she ruffled my hair much like Alpha did. She had been the mother I never had...

I wonder if she would think any differently of me if she knew about Citrine and the Rath eggs? I wonder if she was watching me from heaven, and she knew about the Rath eggs? Was she angry at me for saving them, or was she proud of me? I guess I would never know...

Suddenly, I was snapped from my daydreaming from the sound of music outside the house. Leaving Citrine to swim, I got up and went to investigate. Suzaku rushed into the house as I stood up.

"What's going on out there?" I asked.

"I'm not terribly sure. Some of the fishermen pulled instruments out of nowhere, started playing them and now about half of the villagers are dancing." He seemed completely bewildered. I laughed. For some reason, on a night when the moon was full, the village burst to life. Sometimes I wondered if it was in homage to her. Although, it was probably just for fun. Full moons weren't very common, you'd be lucky if you got one every month.

I pulled him outside and felt a grin spread its way across my face. Seeing the village so alive made me happy. Men and woman were in partners, dancing by the fishermen wielding the instruments. It was a pretty wild dance, not anything slow like a waltz.

I had never actually taken part in the dances, I had only watched. There was nobody to dance with.

Suzaku seemed to be enjoying himself, his foot was tapping to the rhythm of the music. He had a similar grin to mine.

"Nothing happens like this where I live." He said in wonder.

"Your village must be pretty boring then." I joked. He nodded in agreement, not realizing I was joking.

Suddenly, the fast-paced song drew to a halt just as quickly as it had started. The dancers halted and waited patiently for the fishermen to play another song. When they started up, and the dancers realized the slow pace of the music, they began to waltz. Some however left the group of dancers and took seats somewhere else, watching the others with shining eyes.

I found myself captured by the music and I didn't realize I was swaying along until somebody tapped me on the shoulder. I looked to my left and saw Suzaku standing a few feet away, holding his hand out to me with a warm smile on his face. My face heated up instantly, he wanted to dance?

I tried to speak but no words would come out. Bewildered, I found myself grabbing his hand and he lead me out into the group of dancers. Our hands became entwined and he lead our dance. I had never danced before, so I just copied him. Once I had gotten the hang of it, I looked up at him and discovered he was looking down at me with a goofy smile. The way I was looking at him, I must have looked like a scared puppy. Very unprofessional...

I was enjoying it though. But, I don't think it was so much the dancing I was enjoying. I think it was because I was dancing with him...

...What? That doesn't mean I like him or anything! Or, maybe I did, I wasn't sure... Argh, so confusing!

I tried to stop thinking about it and tried to just enjoy the dance. But I kept getting distracted by his eyes, which I couldn't seem to look away from... Argh!

The second the song ended, I pulled away from him. He seemed shocked and slightly hurt, so I quickly apologised and stated that it was just nerves. He smiled in understanding.

Tired and still slightly shocked by the day's events, I went back to the house and got ready for bed. Suzaku did the same. We climbed into bed and lay in silence, facing away from each other. At one point I gasped and shivered – it was cold tonight...

"Are you cold?" He asked, turning over slightly to look at me.

"Yeah." I replied with a nervous laugh. I felt him turn over completely and tensed up when he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. I was already warming up, but this was still a very awkward situation.

"Umm... Suzaku... This is weird..." I said. He sniggered.

"Hey, I'm only keeping you warm!" He replied. I laughed and finally relaxed. It wasn't long until I fell asleep, the sounds of the music and laughter growing quieter and quieter until I drifted off...

* * *

Hey guys, just to let you know that I'm really sorry about the gap between uploading chapter 6, It's just I had some pretty serious exams so I stopped working on all of my stories, not just this one, and then I kinda forgot to take this story up again... But now this story is one of my priorities, and I'm aiming to get as much of it done as I can before the Summer Holidays ends, when there will probably be another huge gap because of more serious exams... Just to give you all a warning! XD


	9. Chapter 8: A Nargacuga and a Jaggi Army

A few days passed. We continued to monitor the Teostra's behaviour, staying well out of sight. Although, the Teostra was actually the furthest thing from my mind at the time. I was thinking about the Rathian still, and wondering if her eggs were doing okay in the care of the Felynes. I was also wondering about Suzaku for some reason. I was thinking about what I was to him. A Monster Hunter shouldn't have time for such personal affairs, but I just couldn't stop thinking about it. I couldn't help but wonder if I had actually developed feelings for him... It seemed like that the more I considered it. I was beginning to find it hard to even talk to him. I couldn't look him in the eyes any more. If I did I got butterflies in my stomach. Sometimes when I talked to him I'd begin shaking and feel nervous. I didn't understand these feelings, but I'm assuming that they meant something.

He sighed and placed his binoculars on the grass. The Teostra had been dormant for a few hours, chilling pleasantly in the shadow of a cliff. I heard a Great Jaggi call a while off but ignored it.

"This is so boring." He spoke.

"Well if we want to kill it then this is vital." I replied.

"I know that, but... It's boooooring." He whined. I rolled my eyes.

I had to admit that things had been pretty quiet since we had taken possession of the Rathian eggs. No monsters had come from other dimensions, and even the monsters here had been fairly quiet. No urgent quests had come in at all.

We heard the Teostra let out a big, gaping yawn and suddenly snapped to attention. Our eyes widened. Suzaku snapped up the binoculars from the grass and aimed them at the Teostra's stomach, which appeared to be glowing a light blue colour.

"What on Earth...?"

A large, swirling vortex of blue, green and purple suddenly appeared beside the Teostra. The wind began to pick up and everything suddenly felt very cold. The Great Jaggi call sounded again, this time it was closer.

"Is that a portal?" I asked him.

"Yeah. I think its from the World Crystal too." He spoke solemnly. I reached for the wooden hilt of Demonbne. When I felt it, I relaxed considerably. I had a feeling that whatever came out of that portal was going to be as dangerous as the Teostra, if not more dangerous.

A shriek from inside the portal made our hair stand on end. He reached for the hilt of his longsword, seeking the same comfort I had. We found ourselves ducking even lower in our hiding places as a big black shape catapulted itself out of the blue portal and landed on its feet. Suzaku lifted himself up slightly to get a better look at the monster. He gasped in horror and ducked down again.

"A Nargacuga..." He mumbled. I slowly looked up and took in the beast with my own eyes. To me, it resembled an oversized bat, with the same body type as a Barioth, a sharp, beaked mouth, a tail that looked like it could slice a boulder in half and piercing blood red pools for eyes. I began to feel a sense of insecurity so I looked away from the beast's eyes and suddenly felt a lot better. I could tell that this monster was no pushover. Me and Suzaku really had our work cut out for us now. It was hard enough with just the Teostra.

I found myself wondering what the two large monsters would make of each other. The Teostra, rudely awoken by the Nargacuga's floundering, stood up and inspected the black creature that the World Crystal had summoned. As you could imagine, the fluffy pink beast was not impressed. Fighting broke out immediately, summoning monsters from all around the area to watch the scene. Ludroth stood in the shallow water, their heads tilted to the side in confusion as they wondered what to make of the scene. Two Qurupecos stood not far away from where we were hiding, cawing at the fighting monsters in unrest. Then finally, in the shade of the cliff where the Teostra had once been sleeping stood a dozen Jaggi and Jaggia, roaring at the fighters as if preparing to attack but then jumping away if they drew too close.

"Should we break them up?" I asked Suzaku. He knew more about these foreign monsters than I did.

"What, and risk getting mauled by all of those monsters?" Suzaku said, looking at me like I had just announced that I was getting married to a Lagiacrus with a degree in Science.

"Well what else can we do?" I asked desperately.

"I say we just report back to the village and tell them what's happened. Then we'll work out what to do."

He knew best when it came to these monsters so I knew better than to argue. I packed up my equipment and we began to sneak away, but then we realized that a Great Jaggi and a few of his small comrades were in the next area.

"That must have been the Great Jaggi that was making those calls earlier." I said with a sigh.

"Should we take him out?" Suzaku prepared to draw his weapon. The Great Jaggi saw us, but it didn't do what most Great Jaggi did – run towards us then summon more Jaggi with its signature call. It just stood there, staring at us. As it crept closer, I spotted a limp in its right leg. Something seemed familiar about it but I wasn't sure what. Another thing that confused me was that the Great Jaggi was showing no signs of anger – it just seemed curious.

I relaxed myself and moved slowly towards it. We met in the middle and had a stand-off. The Great Jaggi towered above me, but still showed no signs of violence. I held out my hand to it and it sniffed it, analysing me. Then it drew away, let out a gentle growl and turned. It wanted to show me its right leg. It had a large gash across it that had partially healed. It suddenly clicked where I had seen this Great Jaggi before.

"You're the Great Jaggi that fought the Velocidrome with us..." I said in a hushed voice. It growled in response.

"The Velocidrome did that to you?" I asked it. It growled again then turned to look at the Teostra. It snarled viciously. I looked to Suzaku.

"I don't think the native monsters like these new ones very much." I said with a smirk.

"Seems that way." Suzaku turned back to watch the two monsters fighting. The Nargacuga appeared to have the upper hand but it was hard to tell from where we were. I looked back to the Great Jaggi. It glanced at its underlings and then back to me. He seemed to be waiting. I concentrated and looked deep into his eyes.

"What is it you want...?" I asked him. Silence for a few moments.

_Attack._

What?

_He's waiting for your orders to attack._

Who are you?

_You don't recognize me?_

NO?

_You will learn in due time then. _

Great, now I'm hearing voices in my head. This situation only gets weirder as the days go on. I still couldn't completely come to terms with it all. Still, I did what I thought was right and listened to the voice.

"Okay, let's do this." I said to the Great Jaggi. I turned to Suzaku.

"We need to attack while they're occupied." I said to him.

"What? Are you crazy? We can't take them on with just the two of us!" He replied.

"It isn't just the two of us." I retorted. I looked behind me to the Great Jaggi and his followers. The Great Jaggi barked and his underlings copied.

"Are you being serious...?"

"More serious than I'll ever be. Are you with me or not?" I was losing patience with him. I didn't mean to but his scepticism was annoying me.

Then again, maybe I was the one in the wrong, suddenly holding so much trust in the monsters I had spent much of my life killing. But I didn't have much of a choice now. These two monsters were going to cause serious damage if we didn't do something about them now.

He looked at me as if he didn't recognize me.

"You've changed, Neeshka. You've grown soft. Have you forgotten your job?" He asked.

"Being a Monster Hunter doesn't always mean that you kill every monster in sight, Suzaku." I replied.

"Taking in those Rathian eggs, now this! I don't believe you. What are the monsters to you all of a sudden? Your best friends?"

I'd heard enough. I knew what I was doing. This Great Jaggi and his underlings saw me as an ally, and maybe the other monsters would as well when they saw me fighting.

"If you're not with us then get out of here." I snarled. He seemed taken aback. I was looking at him in a completely different light now. I was looking at most humans in a completely different light. They saw the monsters as creatures that needed to be slaughtered, although my view on them was changing. Thanks to Citrine, maybe my view on monsters was always going to be different to the others. I wished she was here right now, by my side and barking away happily. But we'd left her at the village.

Suzaku, finally coming to terms with what was happening, nodded and began to walk away, towards the village. Me and the Jaggi watched him go. I felt no sadness, no regret, nothing. Just determination. Determination to kill these two monsters, and determination to prove that not all monsters were evil. Somehow I had a feeling that if I died today, I wouldn't care. I knew that I would have made a point, but realizing how thick my fellow humans were, they probably wouldn't even notice.

Then again, it was worth a try. I couldn't back out now.

"Great Jaggi, do your thing." I commanded. He barked and the Jaggi around him began to screech and jump in excitement. He threw his head up into the sky and did the call he was famous for.

The entire area went silent. The two monsters stopped fighting and looked in our direction. I reached for Demonbane's hilt. It suddenly hit me like a tonne of bricks what I had just gotten myself into.

I was doomed. Oh so very, very doomed.

The Jaggi that were beside the fight suddenly ran towards us. More Jaggi emerged from all directions, and some more Great Jaggi even emerged. Eventually there was a Jaggi army behind the Great Jaggi with a limp. I had never seen so many Jaggi in one place before, it was incredible. The Great Jaggi with a limp turned once again and lowered itself slightly. It then looked to me, then to its back, then back to me.

"...You want me to get on?" I was getting more alarmed by the second. It was wounded! It couldn't possibly carry me! Nevertheless, it barked. I gulped and hopped on. It felt weird, being high above the ground on the back of a Great Jaggi. This was something I thought would never happen. I'm probably the first hunter to have ever done this. It raised itself to full height again, and I held onto its neck tightly, under the impression that I would fall. It turned so it was facing the two monsters who were still locked in each other's grips. The Ludroth and the Qurupecos were going insane, they had never seen anything like this before either.

I wasn't sure what else to do, but the sun was going down. I would need to make this quick.

"Attack." I said quietly. It was meant to be louder but I faltered. The Great Jaggi took over and roared at the two monsters, then suddenly the army of Jaggi surged forward like a Tidal Wave, and slammed into the Teostra and the Nargacuga, sending them staggering.

As my Great Jaggi charged behind the rest, I wondered when the Jaggi suddenly developed such a sense of command. I had never seen a Great Jaggi summon every other Jaggi in the area before, even the other Great Jaggi. I heard the Teostra roar in outrage and decided I would think about that later. I drew the Demonbane, and as my Great Jaggi threw itself at the face of the Nargacuga, I pounced off it, threw the axe forward so it clicked into place, and brought it down on the black beast. It stuck itself into the creature's neck with a 'thock!' and I held on tightly as the Nargacuga roared in pain and tried to shake the axe out. I pulled it out myself and rolled onto the ground, proceeding to attack its legs. As I did so, I watched as Jaggi got thrown left and right.

I heard the calls of Qurupeco and smirked in amusement as they flew up high above the battle and aimed fireballs at the Teostra's head. They hit their mark perfectly and the pink beast clawed at its face desperately. It seemed like we were winning.

The Ludroth stepped in and clamped onto the Teostra's legs, biting at its ankles ferociously. I knew from experience that when Ludroth got a hold of you, they wouldn't let you go.

At first it did seem like things were going well. I was working on trying to sever the Nargacuga's mighty tail when I saw a Qurupeco get shot out of the sky by the Teostra. This seemed to worry the other monsters and a large amount of Jaggi were beginning to withdraw. Foolishly, I chose to ignore this. I kept slashing at the beast's tail until it finally came off. The said Nargacuga emitted a ear-splitting scream and swung around to face me, ignoring the pesky Jaggi biting its legs. You could tell just by looking at it that it was close to death. Although nothing could change the effect its glowing red eyes had on you. Against my will, I found myself turning around and running away, suddenly terrified for my life. It chased me, like a Great Jaggi hunting a Kelbi. I found myself hiding behind a rock like a coward. I couldn't forgive myself for abandoning the Jaggi that were fighting for me. I wanted to scream as the Nargacuga's beak came into view. It sniffed thoughtfully, then I saw its red eyes again, much closer this time. I was so scared, it was to the point where my heart was going to explode out of my chest.

For the first time in my life, in the presence of a monster, I screamed.

It echoed off the mountains and walls, and for a good few seconds the aftermath of my scream was all I could hear. I did notice the Nargacuga withdrawing as if something had just attacked it from behind. It screeched and suddenly collapsed, its eyes losing that terrifying red colour, and suddenly I began to feel a lot better, like I had never been scared at all.

I almost jumped out of my skin however when Suzaku appeared and took me in his arms.

"Neeshka, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have left you! Are you hurt?" He seemed frantic, and was checking me all over for injuries.

"I-I'm fine... Just a bit shaken, that's all." I said with a nervous laugh. When I finally made eye contact with him, I found myself just staring at him, and he was staring at me. He began to move closer, and for a second I was worried about what he was doing, but I calmed down when I realized that I didn't have a reason to fear him, I never did and I never would. He continued to draw closer, although I thought about the current situation and realized we needed to pick up the pace. I hooked his armour with my hand and pulled his lips onto mine.

I still can't find the right words to describe what I felt in that moment. The sounds of the battle behind us drifted away and I felt like we were the only ones in the world. My heart was beating fast again, but not out of fear, more out of excitement. I felt like all of my years of pain, killing and sadness meant nothing, and had just faded out of existence. I felt like a huge burden had been lifted off of my shoulders, I felt free, _free, _like I had been locked away for a long time.

The kiss ended all too soon when the sound of a Ludroth barking snapped us to attention. We broke apart and turned to see Citrine barking in excitement. We found ourselves grinning stupidly and laughing as she reared up on her hind legs and began clapping her paws together, before rolling onto her back.

"What made you come back?" I asked him.

"Citrine. She body slammed me while I told Alpha about what happened. He suggested that we go out and find you, and I was more than happy to oblige." He said.

"What about the Nargacuga and the Teostra!" I asked worriedly.

"The Nargacuga is dead. However, the Teostra managed to escape again..." He said sadly. I wanted to punch something in frustration. That Teostra was a massive threat to us! It needed to be killed!

"What about the Jaggi?"

"What about them?"

"Are they okay?"

"I guess so. There's a lot of bodies lying around, including a Qurupeco but it doesn't seem like that big a casualty." He explained. He stood up and offered his hand. I gladly took it and he yanked me to my feet. We journeyed back to the scene of the battle, to see how bad the damage really was.

* * *

Hey guys, once again I'm really sorry about the large upload gap. The exams have cut back on my free time a lot and since I'm not as keen on Monster Hunter as I was, I really struggled to find inspiration for this chapter. Although I am determined to finish it and write a sequel, so reviews are much appreciated! Thanks!


	10. Chapter 9: The Little Raths

We approached Alpha, who was standing nearby the biggest pile of monster bodies. He spun around at the sound of footsteps and crashed into me the second he saw me.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" He said, clearly relieved. I just smirked.

"You can't get rid of me that easily."

"Look at this mess." Alpha indicated to the area all around us. Blood stained the grass, the bodies of Jaggi and Ludroth littered the ground, and the Qurupeco that had been shot down was lying in the shallow water, blood from its wounds being carried out to sea. The Qurupeco that was still alive lay beside it, determined not to leave its side. A small band of Jaggi and Jaggia stood nearby, being led by two surviving Great Jaggi, and one of them had a familiar limp. I gasped and broke away from Suzaku, running to my Great Jaggi. It seemed surprised at first when I threw my arms around its neck. Obviously it didn't know what a hug was. As I fussed over it, I caught something gleaming at the corner of my eye. I looked down at the Great Jaggi's arm, and saw that it appeared to be wearing some sort of bracelet. On further inspection, it was made of little seashells strung together with rope. I gasped. I knew this bracelet…

In fact, I knew this Great Jaggi!

_I was about six at the time. I had turned the Lagiacrus Claw my Hero gave me into a necklace and I never took it off. I also wore a bracelet made out of seashells that my mother had made. By this point, both my mother and my Hero were dead. I was on my own, so I spent most of my time in the wilderness, with all of the monsters, even though I knew how dangerous it was. _

_While chasing a Kelbi, I came to a tiny clearing, where I found a wounded Jaggi. It had obviously been attacked by something much larger than it, as it couldn't even move. It was entirely defenceless. It growled in agony as I crouched down beside it. It just looked at me, with pleading eyes. Having some medical training I tore off some of my dress and used it to cease the bleeding. Then, I tore off some more of my dress and tied it around the Jaggi's wound. It began to stand up, slowly and painfully. I held my hands under it to help it steady itself. When it was up on its feet, It headbutted my hand in what I assumed was thanks. I took the bracelet off of my wrist and adjusted it around the Jaggi's own wrist. _

"_Here, now I'll know which Jaggi's you!" I said with a childish grin. The Jaggi barked a couple of times at me, I wasn't sure what it was saying, and then it bounded off into the bushes. I had watched it go, wondering if I would ever see it again._

"That was you, wasn't it? You were that Jaggi that I saved as a child?" I gasped, my voice also a whisper. The Jaggi growled and headbutted my hand, much like it did all that time ago. I smiled.

"So that's why you didn't attack us when we were fighting the Velocidrome. You knew it was me!" My smile grew wider.

"Suzaku!" I called. He came over, still cautious of the Jaggi but clearly more relaxed.

"Look, I saved this Jaggi as a child! That's why it didn't attack us!"

"WHAT?! YOU'VE BEEN IN THE CAHOOTS WITH THE MONSTERS SINCE YOU WERE A CHILD?!" Alpha screamed and almost fainted. I guess I'd had a connection with the monsters all my life! First the Lagiacrus tooth, then the wounded Jaggi, then Citrine and then, finally, them all. Every able monster in this entire area had fought on my side. It was incredible, and an experience I knew I'd never soon forget, or relive.

Although I was surprised, Alpha was handling my relationship with the monsters a lot better than I thought he would. At the minute he clearly looked enraged, and kicked a Jaggi into the air when it made the mistake of getting too close to him. I smirked.

"Oh, and also, Alpha?! We've got two Rath eggs at the farm which are gonna hatch soon!" I called mischievously and he looked at me, slack-jawed.

"YOU WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

He high-tailed it back to the village and, in an attempt to stop him doing anything rash, me, Suzaku and Citrine followed him. My Great Jaggi watched us leave silently, and then began to walk off towards his nest. A large number of surviving Jaggi and Jaggia began to follow him, barking and yapping at each other as if discussing in excitement the battle that had just taken place. The Ludroth crawled back into the water and towards the lake, realizing that the excitement was over. The Qurupeco sat with its head held low, refusing to leave its dead partner. It let out a rather sad growl, at a complete loss, and then lay its head down in the water and shut its eyes. For a few seconds, it lay in gloomy silence, and then a large blue portal reopened and the Teostra, wounded badly, stumbled out and took its place on the grass, drifting off to sleep. The Qurupeco, knowing that this pink beast was the cause of its partner's demise, began to caw and screech with all of its might, and then it charged at the large creature, flames dripping from its mouth like foam, and then let out one last final scream before the Teostra knocked its lights out and it was sent flying backwards, where it collapsed and soon died beside its companion. The Teostra snorted in annoyance and began to lick its wounds. The World Crystal hummed gently in its belly.

Alpha tripped and fell over a rock, sending him crashing to the ground. Me and Suzaku easily surpassed him, laughing in amusement. We did a sharp turn left and slid into the tunnel to the farm.

"D-Dammit!" He shouted from his place on the ground, and then scrambled back to his feet, running to catch up with us. Several places behind was Citrine, who hobbled along on her short legs as fast as she could, letting out several barks of annoyance with each steps.

We arrived at the farm and discovered that the two eggs had been brought out of the Felyne tunnels and were sitting upright, nice and warm in small beds of hay. They were shaking violently.

"Oh my God… Are they hatching!?" The farmer nodded in anticipation at my outburst.

"The Felynes brought them through a few minutes ago. I was about to send one to get you!" He explained.

I sat by them excitedly; I could already hear their small cries of annoyance as they attempted to break the shells of their tough eggs. Suzaku came and sat beside me, placing a hand on my shoulder. I couldn't help but notice the small smile on his face.

The various Felynes stopped their work and gathered around, forming a circle around the eggs. Finally, the one on the left chipped, closely followed by the one on the right. Two beaks poked out and sniffed the air, before the top of both eggs burst open and two baby Raths were revealed, coated in a sticky, stretchy substance which I couldn't name. The left one – a bright red Rathalos, raised its head first and laid eyes on me. It let out a tiny, adorable roar, kicked itself free of the egg and the substance, and then clambered towards me, tripping several times. I held out my arms and caught it, pulling it close to me. I was surprised by how friendly it was being… However, then I remembered that I carried their true mother's essence and that as a result, they thought I was their mother. I guess I was the closest thing now. Because of this, I held the little Rathalos as tightly as I could without hurting it.

The Rathian, a brilliant emerald green in colour, staggered over to me and began to fight with her brother for my hugs. I had to laugh. Already they were fighting, and they'd barely been out of their eggs for a few seconds. I took them both into my arms and they snuggled quite happily into my Lagiacrus armour, which I found surprising but didn't object to.

"Well, they certainly attached themselves to you really fast." Alpha stated with a snort.

"Alpha, do you remember the time me and Suzaku went to check out the commotion? How it was a Rathian and a Jaggi facing off?" I asked him. He nodded.

"Of course I do. It wasn't that long ago!" He said, almost offended. Obviously he thought I had called him stupid.

"Well, there was a commotion involving a Rathian, but the story we told you wasn't completely true – The Teostra attacked a Rathian living in the big nest up in the cave system. We went to check it out and began to attack the Teostra. Eventually, we got it to flee, and the Rathian didn't attack us. She was badly wounded, and in her final moments she left me in charge of these two eggs – and I think the two of them know it."

Alpha looked like he was about to faint from the shocking amount of information he had taken in today.

"You're annoyed at me, aren't you? For liking the monsters?" I asked with a nervous laugh. Even if he was, I can't say that it would particularly bother me.

"Not really – I'm more annoyed that you lied to me," He said with a disappointed expression. I frowned and looked back to the two babies, who were snapping at each other playfully, attempting to use their wings as arms to hold onto me. He knelt down beside me, and let the Rathalos sniff his hand – before he stroked the monster's rough scalp.

"But, you lied for the right reasons, and for that I'm glad. If you'd told me about these eggs before today, I probably would have had them destroyed."

"Well, then why did you run to the farm when we told you about them?" I asked.

"I wanted to see them!" He said innocently. Whether or not he was telling the truth, he couldn't have done much anyway as his quiver was lacking arrows, and I had never seen him wield a melee weapon. In fact, I had no idea if he knew how to fight with a sword and shield, or a switch-axe – I don't even think he knew how to use a fishing spear.

He looked at me with a worried expression.

"So, what are you going to do with them? They can't stay here forever, and the others in the village will probably start to get suspicious." He asked me. Well, at least I knew that Alpha was supporting me.

"I'm not sure yet. I… I think for now we should keep them a secret from the other villagers. When they get too big to be kept at the farm, we'll take them to their mother's old nest – but for now, the villagers must avoid finding out, otherwise these babies are as good as dead." I explained. One of the babies, the Rathian, nuzzled me and let out a purring sound.

Finally, Citrine arrived. She charged as fast as she could on her short legs and drew to a halt, barking like crazy, annoyed at being left behind. While I smothered the little Raths with affection, Citrine continued to bark, but her barking came to a stop abruptly, like something had clamped her mouth shut. However, at the minute that was my least concern, as I let the Raths get used to me, and let myself get used to the Raths.

"Citrine, where are you going?" Suzaku's voice rung out. Once again, I ignored it, oblivious to everything but these two babies – I didn't know if it was the mother's essence affecting me, or if it was just the overwhelming emotion of the moment, but at that moment in time, I genuinely believed that I was their mother. I believed that I had always looked after them, even when they were a few days old – they were _my _children. _MINE! _

I snapped back into reality, wondering what had come over me. I looked behind me to see Suzaku following Citrine to the village. Alpha still stood by my side, waiting for me.

"You okay? You looked kind of spaced out for a second there." He asked me. I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just have a bit of a headache, that's all."

He laughed.

"Well, after today, that's no surprise! Come on, we should head back. The Felynes will look after them."

I felt bad about leaving the little Raths on their own. Despite not being their mother, it was still my duty to protect them and I wished to do so, but as of now, I was practically living two lives – one as a Monster Hunter, and one as an Ally of the Monsters. Both were risky business. Of course, there was still the matter of the Teostra too.

When we got back to the village, children had already looted the body of the Nargacuga and were brandishing its midnight black scales like they were trophies of their own kill. One child had even turned his scale into a breastplate, tied onto his back using fishing string. He was play fighting with a friend of his, who was pretending to be a Great Jaggi.

It was amazing how inspirational the Monster Hunters were. Children, adults, elders – everybody's faith was in them. We were like Gods on Earth to them. I couldn't shake the feeling that I had betrayed that faith, betrayed my Hero, by my actions today and over these past few days – Taking in Citrine was bad enough, but taking in two Rath eggs, and then teaming up with a Great Jaggi!? The great Hunters of the past must have been looking down on me, their faces scrunched up in disgust. I couldn't handle it. I ran into my house, abandoning Alpha outside and thumped down onto my bed, my fists trembling. Suzaku was sitting at his usual spot, with his feet in the water. He noticed my distressed state and got up, coming over and sitting beside me on the bed. Before he said anything, I asked desperately;

"Where's Citrine!?"

He seemed taken aback by the volume and tone of my voice, but I didn't care. Citrine was my best friend, and I needed her right now.

"…I don't know." He replied. My expression fell.

"But… wasn't she just with you?" I asked, my voice faltering in disbelief.

"Yeah, but I turned away for a few minutes to talk to some of the children and when I looked back she was gone. I'm sure she's just gone for a swim, Neeshka, don't worry." He said, wrapping an arm around me. I gave a shaky sigh and placed my head on his shoulder, exhausted after the day's events. The sun was setting. It came as a surprise to me just how much time had passed. However, the fact that Citrine was nowhere in sight worried me. At this time of day, she was always home.

I couldn't stop my head from reeling – my feelings for Suzaku, which had escalated to dangerous levels after that kiss, were attempting to block everything else – he was right here beside me, but he was still almost all I could think about. Then, there was the missing Citrine, my partner and best friend for years, who I couldn't live without. Of course there was my sense of betrayal, to my people, my fellow hunters and to myself, and then there was my worry about how I acted around the Raths today – I had acted, putting it simply, like a Rathian mother. What happened to me? Was I possessed?

I finally went to bed that night with Citrine still to appear. Suzaku cuddled up behind me, trying to ease my worry enough for me to at least sleep.

"So… are we, um… together now?" I asked him.

"Well, if you're okay with that, then yeah, I guess we are." He spoke calmly. I turned in the bed to face him and looked deep into his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm okay with that." I replied. He smiled – it was a beautiful smile. Not the smile of a Monster Hunter, not the smile of somebody who had spilled more blood than a Great Jaggi in heat – no, it was an ordinary, human smile. I loved it.

I remember thinking, just maybe, that I loved him.

He held me close and kissed me again, and it was just as good as the first time, but the effect of my first kiss had worn off and it felt shorter – maybe it was, I didn't know, but it was amazing all the same.

"To be honest, I really wish our first kids had actually been mine." He stated with a smirk. I couldn't help but laugh. I knew he was referring to the little Raths.

"It's a bit soon to be talking about that, is it not?" I asked.

"I suppose not… but life is short as a Hunter…" He teased. I knew he was just being stupid, trying to cheer me up.

"I guess that's true. But it's still too soon." I scolded, but the smile on my face was one of the widest smiles I'd displayed in a long time.

I fell asleep with ease that night. I was sure Citrine would have returned by tomorrow.

* * *

I cannot apologize enough for the stupidly long wait on this one. None of you should have to wait this long for me to update, and I'll be surprised if any of you are still reading this - if you are, you have the patience of a saint, and I thank you.

This summer I started my fifth year in High School, which means in a nutshell - constant class and homework. However, I love this story dearly and I know a lot of you do too so I'm not going to let it die - I'm going to finish this story if it's the last thing I do.

For now, please enjoy! ^^'

~Lagiacrus


	11. Chapter 10: More Trouble than He's Worth

That night, I woke up several times. I kept hoping that I would wake up and Citrine would be there, curled up in a ball on the edge of the bed like she usually was – but she never appeared. Even though I was sure she would return, I couldn't help but worry – she was the closest thing I ever had to a best friend, and not even Alpha, Charlson or Po meant as much to me as she did (although Charlson was a pretty close second – where was he, anyway?)

Realizing that now both Charlson and Citrine were missing, I groaned in annoyance. Suzaku had his arms around me, and this time I didn't try to escape him like I did the last time. His embrace was comforting, and after sitting up and staring listlessly around my home, hoping to see either Citrine or Charlson hiding somewhere in the dark, I eventually settled back down to sleep when I realized that it was merely wishful thinking. I cuddled into him – he was warm – and I quickly fell asleep, feeling safe and like I had no problems…

However, the next morning these problems were quick to resurface. There was still no sign of Citrine, and nobody had seen her out on their fishing boats either. Suzaku couldn't comfort me now – Citrine was missing. Full-blown missing.

Realizing that something must have been wrong, I immediately journeyed back into the house to fetch my armour. I had to check the island for her; I knew for a fact that she would never leave the island unless if I was with her, and we were travelling to the desert to the east, the tundra to the north or the jungles to the south. As I slung my switch-axe over my back, Suzaku came into the house and watched me wordlessly, as if powerless.

"You do realize that she's gonna be fine, right?" He asked.

"How do you know that?" I asked him, checking if the mighty switch axe needed sharpened.

"Citrine seems like she can handle herself in the wild – she is a monster, after all." He explained.

"She's not just a monster," I hissed as I fished around in my armour's pack for a good whetstone.

"She's all I have."

He seemed slightly hurt by this, but I wasn't thinking about him at the moment. I had to find her. I proceeded to sharpen the axe's blade, using the rest of the whetstone's power and then chucking it out of the house and into the water. The blade's natural shine had returned, and this is how I knew that it was ready to go. I left the house without saying another word to him. I hadn't taken much notice but at some point he must have gotten into his armour, because as I headed to the village exit he came up behind me, just as ready to brace the wild as I was.

As we approached the bridge leading to the mainland, Alpha, who had been standing by the Weaponsmith's, attempted to stop us.

"Neeshka, hold on a sec-"

"Don't try to stop me, Alpha." I said, not even glancing at him. I began to walk along the bridge, completely focused on one thing and one thing only – finding Citrine.

"I'm not trying to stop you, just listen!" He called after me.

"Sorry, Alpha. I can't get her to stop either." Suzaku called back to him, moving to catch up with me. He watched us go, a baffled look in his eyes.

The noise of the village died away, we were left with the sound of our own footsteps and breathing. The island at this time in the morning was always eerily silent, and the mist from the ocean still pressed down heavily on the entire island, making it difficult to see even a few feet in front of us. I took Suzaku's hand to lead him properly along, because otherwise he'd fall off a cliff or something.

"Neeshka, why don't we wait until later? There's no way we'll be able to find Citrine in this weather," He gasped. "And what if we get caught off guard by the monsters?"

"Then you will have only me to blame. However, I don't think the monsters will cause much of a problem." I replied, recalling the battle against the Teostra and the Nargacuga. They had been our allies – how could they suddenly turn their backs on us now? That's right, they wouldn't.

We headed into the area where the battle had taken place. The bodies of monsters were still scattered roundabout, and we tripped countless times on the still corpses, unable to see them through the obstructive mist. Suzaku forced me to stop by tugging on my hand when we heard the sounds of approaching Jaggi. They gave their calls, having spotted us and circled us, we could just see their salmon pink scales in the blue murk – but they were not hostile.

One was almost in arm's length of us – as close as it would ever dare. It barked at me once, twice, three times, and then turned and began to stroll off. A fair distance off it stopped and turned to look at us.

"It wants us to follow it." I breathed and Suzaku gulped. Trusting the Jaggi to keep us right we caught up with the small creature as it lead us into the water, and I knew instantly that it was taking us to the shore. Why would it want to take us there?

By the time we reached the former lair of the Lagiacrus, the mist had cleared by a substantial amount and we could now see as far as the water's edge. Standing there was a small group of Ludroth but they made no move to confront us. One I noticed was wearing a very familiar bandana.

"CITRINE!" I called and the Ludroth stood to attention, giving a bark of greeting and sliding to me as I knelt down and embraced her in a hug. Suzaku just stood and watched, smiling with relief. He had been worried too, but I knew that he wouldn't admit it.

"What were you doing out here?" I asked her. She gave a bark, turned and looked out across the water, and then back to me.

"Are you… waiting for something?"

She gave a toss of her head – she had learned that nodding meant 'yes'. Suzaku and I looked at each other as the Jaggi gathered around us, staring worryingly silent out to sea. The two of us began to fear the worst. What were they waiting for…?

The waves became rougher. The uneasy feeling I was getting easily surpassed any I had had before. Yet, the monsters weren't scared – I shouldn't be either.

More Ludroth bounded out of the water as if running from something – but the second they were on land with us they seemed to calm. I heard Suzaku gulp behind me. He moved so he was beside me and took my hand in his – he was scared but he seemed to find comfort in my bravery. Citrine gave a small, impatient whine beside me.

Suddenly, small jolts of blue lightning shuddered and spread across the water. I knew them better than anything else in the world. I looked down at my Lagiacrus armour, and broke out in a cold sweat…

Just like that something shot up from the water's depths, and went soaring through the air, letting out a piercing roar as it went – it struck both fear and amazement into my heart as I watched it glide seamlessly. There before us was a white Lagiacrus, shooting out jolts of electricity from its blue spikes and horns. I looked at Suzaku in panic and discovered that he had already drawn his weapon – I wasted no time doing the same.

As it disappeared into the water again, Citrine turned to us and reacted violently to our weapons. She barked in distaste and nibbled on the blade of my switch axe, refusing to let go until I sheathed it once again. Although I was now very much frightened, I did as she asked – I trusted her. I nodded to Suzaku uncertainly and he slowly sheathed his sword, as if the longer he kept it out the safer we were. We could see the monster's dark shape moving towards us underwater, and even though its movements didn't seem hostile, I couldn't help but worry for our safety. A Lagiacrus! The monster feared by my village and people! After the troublemaker was killed years ago by my hero, here was another one! What if it wasn't friendly, or took offence to my armour, or something!? I would need to fight it! AND KILL IT! I've never fought one before, I've been taught from the day I could walk to fear them with all of my heart and soul, and even as a hunter those feelings still stood, rooted deep within me by years of storytelling. The only Lagiacrus that I thought fondly of was the Guardian Lagiacrus, and the one my hero killed – and that was because one of its claws hung around my neck; a trophy of my hero's kill.

My heart was in my mouth and I actually jumped when the Lagiacrus burst from the water again, this time directly in front of us, with its arms clutching at the sand before us and its head hovering over our tiny forms, making me feel more puny and pathetic than I ever had in my life. Suzaku had to hold me steady, my legs were shaking from fear, and according to Suzaku later I had went deathly pale. The creature, with its piercing red eyes growled at the two of us suspiciously, and with increasing hostility. I was suddenly hit with a feeling of such dread that my legs turned to jelly and gave away beneath me, and Suzaku was caught by surprise. He didn't catch me, and I collapsed to my knees. None of the monsters around me seemed to notice, as they were too busy ogling at the Lagiacrus – but suddenly, Citrine stepped forward, facing off against the bright Leviathan ten stories high. Stunning the other monsters around her, she began to issue a series of hurried and annoyed barks, which seemed to calm the Lagiacrus and send it into a state of silent confusion. With a startled growl, it examined the Ludroth shouting at it. Clearly, nobody had talked to it like that before.

Citrine cast a glance back at me, barked and then looked back to the Lagiacrus. I noticed that the giant beast's eyes were on me. I wondered fearfully what Citrine had said to it, as it gave a gentle growl and the Ludroth began to move away from me, leaving me completely open to attack, if the Lagiacrus chose.

But no. Instead, it lowered its head so it was level with me, and slowly inched closer – it was either scared of me, or trying not to frighten me further. I was paralyzed with fear, but what scared me the most was that Suzaku wasn't trying to help me. It was then that I noticed that Citrine appeared to be dragging him back by pulling on the scabbard containing his blade. I stared into the creature's big red pools as its nose inched closer and closer to my face – I was frozen. Unable to move, and defenceless. The switch axe felt like it was too far away, and my arms were dead anyway. I could only watch and wait.

The smell of underwater caverns and sea salt filled my nose. I felt the creature's hot breath on my face, and it gave a quiet growl. I let out a small whimper and squeezed my eyes shut…

Something rough and damp brushed my chin. I opened my eyes and saw that the Lagiacrus was _nuzzling me!_

_Do not fear her. _

What?

_Don't be scared of her. She came to help._

To help…? Do you mean the Lagiacrus? Wait, who are you? Haven't you spoken to me before?

_Keep going, Neeshka. The monsters will help you. Don't give up._

Tell me who you are!

...No response. I sighed, and as the Lagiacrus pulled away, I placed a hand on her nose.

"Did Citrine call for you? Are you really here to help?" I felt silly talking to it, for some reason, but she seemed to understand. She gave a growl of approval, and I nodded.

"Well then… welcome aboard."

Even though we had a new ally, the Teostra had not been seen for a while. I was starting to grow concerned. Where was it hiding? It hadn't left through a portal, had it...?

We arrived back at the village with Citrine in tow and filed our hunting report to Alpha. We made no mention of the Lagiacrus, but did explain where we found Citrine. Alpha was annoyed at me for darting off earlier, and angrily announced what he had so badly wanted to earlier –

"The Guild has sent a new hunter!"

"…Are you being serious?" I hissed.

"He's not replacing you, he's just coming to help you out. The Guild don't know that Suzaku's here so they think that it's just you taking on the Teostra." He then went on to fix the damage he nearly inflicted. The two of us remained silent, not sure what to make of the news.

"Do you want to meet him?" He asked us, and we just continued to stare at him. He smiled and moved off towards a vessel similar to the old ship Argosy, and called somebody down from the ship's decks. Someone began to step down the plank to the docks, carrying behind him a heavy bag. On his back was a switch axe made from the parts of an unknown monster, coloured an unusual shade of green. His hair was a curious metallic silver and his eyes were a bright, sapphire blue. He reached the dock and shook hands with Alpha. They exchanged a few words, and then he guided this mysterious man towards us.

"Neeshka, Suzaku, this is RT. He is a G-rank hunter, one of the best the guild has to offer. I want you to treat him kindly and with respect." He warned us, looking particularly at me as he spoke. I wrinkled my nose at him as he left.

"Hi there, Neeshka. The guild speaks highly of you." The stranger held out his hand and I nervously shook it.

"It is an honour to meet you, RT." I spoke, but it was balderdash. He shouldn't be here. Rather than make things easier, he could disrupt everything! A G-rank hunter such as him would kill the baby Raths on sight and he definitely wouldn't like Citrine!

Speak of the devil, along she waddled, and took her loyal place beside me. His face fell and he dropped the bag, moving for the switch axe.

"Don't you dare." I snapped and he stopped immediately, looking at me sternly, silently demanding an explanation. I cast a nervous glance at Suzaku, and he nodded.

"The cat's out of the bag, anyway. We might as well tell him."

I sighed, and beckoned for RT to follow us to my home, where we would be in private. We had _a lot _to brief him on.


	12. Chapter 11: A Very Brief Lagi VS Teo

As we suspected, it was a lot for him to take in. RT's face turned paler and paler as the tale went on, and was looking at me with a horribly-disguised loathing by the time the story was over.

"I don't know what to say..." He mumbled. "You've allied yourselves... with the very creatures that we were raised to kill?!"

"I know it sounds bizarre, but you've got to trust us." I insisted. Suzaku had remained silent through the whole conversation, even during the part where I described his eventual introduction. Despite what he had seen already, his doubt was still paramount - he would never trust the monsters completely, but I had accepted that. RT, an expert hunter who had been in the business longer than both Suzaku and I put together, would be much harder to convince, if we could at all.

"But why? How could you?! You've broken every single law that binds us, just by having this Ludroth!" He screamed, shooting an accusing finger at the poor beast, who whined in fear and slipped behind me, burying her face in the back of my legs. I leant down slightly and clapped her on the neck.

"The Guild knows, and has never complained before. If you don't like how Suzaku and I run things here, then go back to the city. We didn't ask for your help in the first place." I spat, and the room fell still. He looked down at the floorboards, his wise eyes plagued with guilt, and then he looked back up.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so rash - this is just a bit of a shock, is all..." He said with a nervous laugh and I nodded.

"As it would be," I replied, then I moved away from Citrine, revealing her to him. "Citrine, go and say hi. He isn't dangerous."

Both parties looked at me in dawning horror.

"N-No, I'm fine, really..." RT stammered but I glared firmly at him as I dragged Citrine across the floor towards him. She gave a seal-like distress call as I let go of her and she found herself gazing up at this new face who had referred to her so harshly before. Nervously he reached down and although she tried to shrink away, his hand made contact and he gently stroked the ridge of her eyes with the backs of his fingers. He looked both afraid and bewildered.

"Such a placid monster... I'm impressed..." He breathed out in wonder. He reached down again and this time the Ludroth leaned into his touch, letting out a happy bark.

"She already likes you." It was my turn to be stunned. Citrine had never been very trusting towards strangers but she'd warmed up to Suzaku and RT so easily and in less than a day. I had been feeling quite strongly lately that she knew something I didn't.

RT, now mostly comfortable with the situation, was willing to continue working with us. He leaned his switch axe against the wall beside mine and delved into his bag, where he removed a set of beautiful armor made out of the same materials as his switch axe. That brilliant green and the jagged yellow lining struck me the most.

"What strange armor is that?" I asked him. He smiled in reminiscence as he ran his hand over the smooth green scales.

"This armor was made from the parts of a Jinouga."

"A Zinogre!?" I cried out in astonishment. He nodded and rubbed the armor fondly.

"Yeah. True beasts of legend. There's so few of them, I jumped at the chance to kill one." He told us. We found ourselves sitting back down in order to listen to him, when we heard a voice call frantically from the door;

"Please tell me everything!"

We looked in the direction of the front door and saw Po standing there. Evidently we had been on the same boat as RT, unbeknownst to him.

He rushed up to the surprised hunter and grabbed his hand, shaking it excitedly.

"Hi there, Po the monster biologist at your service, lovely to meet you! Now please tell me the story of the Zinogre for my notes!"

That was just like Po, I thought as RT agreed and the two sat down at my table, Po with a brand new blank notebook open. Suzaku and I were soon to join. We had no time for stories, but I needed Po's help, so I had to wait on him becoming available.

"It was ten years ago, when I was sixteen years old. I was only a novice then, and the biggest monster I had killed by that point was a Royal Ludroth. I was nowhere near ready for a Jinouga, as they are called back in the city. But, as luck would have it I walked into the Hunter's Guild one day and found three hunters looking for a fourth. Nobody was offering, and I was in the mood for some action, so I asked them what was happening."

"They told me that a Jinouga was running loose in the forest nearby, and they had been tasked with putting it down. However, they decided that they needed a fourth hunter to succeed but so far they had had no luck, so I offered." He explained.

"Then what happened?" Po asked, making some note about the Jinouga and woodland.

"They laughed. They told me that somebody with my equipment and of my experience and age would be crushed by the Jinouga. However, they signed me up as the fourth name anyway, just because they couldn't do the quest otherwise. When we arrived at the forest, they told me just to stay put so I wasn't killed. And so, I stayed at the camp..."

"And then...?" Po urged him on.

"I heard a commotion some way off for about an hour, then it stopped. I thought they had killed it, but... they never came back."

The story was dragging us in. Even Po had stopped writing just to listen.

"I went to investigate, hoping to find them stuck in a bog or something - but all I found was electrocuted remains. One of them was in three pieces in a tree."

Our expressions dropped at this but he continued on regardless.

"There was a lot of monster blood in the water. They had wounded the monster badly, and so I knew that it was up to me to finish the job. I followed the blood trail, found it resting in the deepest reaches of the jungle, and managed to kill it but barely, with little more than the equipment I had with me."

"And what equipment was that?" Suzaku asked.

"A typical Bone Axe, low-grade Jaggi armor and no experience with big monsters whatsoever. I didn't even have any potions or herbs."

THIS was when we became impressed. In my mind, somebody with the power to take down a G-grade monster with a weak bone axe and being practically naked, without even the means to heal themselves, rivaled the power of my hero, and the respect I have for her. She never fought a Zinogre - she never lived long enough. I couldn't decide if she would have survived a battle like that or not.

For some reason, that spurred my brain into further thought - nobody knew how she died. We'd never been able to identify if she had been killed by a monster, or if it was an accident or what. For some reason my thoughts were then drawn to the mysterious voice that had been talking to me. The voice was definitely that of a female...

Telling Po I had a request of him, our strange group of five left to head out into Moga Woods. Me, Suzaku, RT, Po and Citrine. Three hunters armed to the teeth, a Ludroth and a puny-looking scientist. To anybody, even a monster we must have looked like quite a sight.

We advanced towards the shore where my friend the white Lagiacrus was lying snoozing on the grass, its tail dipped in the water. The Teostra was still nowhere in sight, and I noticed that the Lagiacrus looked like it had been in a fight recently.

"What in the name of...?!" RT moved for his switch axe but both Po and I held him back.

"Don't!" I cried.

"This is a rare species, don't harm it!" Po screeched with surprising zeal. As RT let go of the switch axe I guided Po over to the Lagiacrus and gently urged her awake. She gave an agitated growl until she realized it was me. She lifted her head and let me rest my hand on her nose.

"What can you tell me about her, Po?" I asked him, and he smiled in wonder as his eyes traced the monster's form.

"This is an Ivory Lagiacrus, also known as the White Lagiacrus or to some people, the Fossil Lagiacrus."

"Fossil...?"

"Yes! The truth is, millions of years ago all Lagiacrus used to be the same colors as this one, but the Lagiacrus began to evolve, and they are still going through this process now - they have evolved to have their current colors but the genes haven't completely died out yet, and so there are still some Ivory Lagiacrus. They are extremely rare, and as they continue to evolve they keep becoming rarer. They are very placid compared to their blue cousins, and also very shy. Feel honored, Neeshka, as this is the only time you'll see one."

"She's actually my ally. She's going to help us kill the Teostra."

This shocked him to the point where he went giddy. The idea of fighting alongside one of these majestic creatures was obviously too much to take in. He'd never been much of a fighter, and was much better at running away or keeping out of sight. That's why I opted to craft him a sword and shield out of any leftover materials I had - I was sure I had enough Jaggi hide to cover the shield and blade hilt, and a nice chunk of Malachite Ore to make the blade. I'd need to speak to the blacksmith later. He could fight but not be weighed down by the weapons. That way he could escape if things got too exciting.

The atmosphere around us seemed to shift suddenly from peaceful to ominous. The Lagiacrus gently moved away from me, lifting its head to the sky. She let out a low, threatening growl, and I noticed Citrine had done the same - their eyes were focused on the cloudy sky. There was the rush of wind and a fierce beating of large wings, and with a gulp of worry, I glanced up.

Something swooped from the top of the cliff, and gripped the neck of the unsuspecting leviathan. She issued a cry of such pain and alarm that the very ground around us shook with the force of the roar. I realized that the giant creature blocking out the sun, latching onto the Lagiacrus' neck and digging its claws into her gentle white skin was none other than the Teostra, wounded and enraged even more than when we left it.

"It's been in another fight since our battle!" I spoke aloud, and Suzaku nodded.

"We need to break them apart!"

I dragged Po away from the scene before we were accidentally swiped by the Lagiacrus' tail, and made him sit tight behind a rock. RT was so amazed that he didn't move as the two of us rushed forward into battle, but before we got close, the White Lagiacrus rolled onto her back, effectively squishing the Teostra before the monster had time to dislodge itself and flee. It gave a terrified screech and managed to free itself from her neck, drawing in its back legs and kicking the Lagiacrus off of it. She went rolling along the ground and the Teostra staggered backwards, shaken by the Lagiacrus' earlier maneuver. As the mighty beasts struggled to regain their bearings, we were at a loss.

"What is that pink thing?!" RT asked, reaching for the hilt of his switch axe.

"That is a Teostra. It is a monster from another world," Suzaku told him. "It will be unlike anything you have faced before."

"We'll see about that." He hissed in reply and drew the switch axe, launching it forward and watching as it clicked into place. He headed out onto the field of battle and hailed the Teostra, taunting it until it landed.

"Hey! Come down here and fight, unless you're chicken!" He called, and the pink beast was momentarily distracted from its Lagiacrus prey by his frantic shouting. It gave a roar in his direction and hit the ground, bringing up powerful currents of wind which barely shook RT, but sent us staggering. As it roared again he rushed forward, rolled out of the way of a swiping paw and flung the switch axe into the side of the beast. It dug into the Teostra's rough hide, staining the pink fur with crimson red blood. The force of the switch axe's impact knocked the Teostra down, and without thinking we charged forward with our weapons drawn, intending on landing a few hits before it was able to stand back up. Even Citrine was waddling along behind us, letting out some sort of Ludroth-esque war cry. This also gave the Lagiacrus a break, as I noticed that she was nursing her now bleeding neck. The red streams of blood slipping between her scales ruined her brilliant white, and the fact that she had come to such harm had angered me greatly.

With no warning my axe rebounded wildly off its hide, and I fell back, hitting the floor and banging my head. Suzaku managed to slice a clean wound onto the beast which caused it to jump in agony and soar back up into the air. The amount of damage it had sustained was incredible. Even though it was fleeing, surely blood loss would kill it before we found it again. There was no way it could survive much longer. It was losing so much blood that it dripped down like rain on top of us as it flew away, with one wing drooping. Clearly the Lagiacrus had damaged it during the fight.

The second it was safely out of sight I rushed to the Ivory Lagiacrus. Suzaku helped RT to his feet, and they rushed to join me. Sensing all was well, Po was soon to follow.

"You poor thing..." I mumbled as I stroked her nose. She growled in pain - the wounds she had received were small but deep, and were bleeding badly. Po rushed up so he was standing beside me, and turned to me.

"I might be able to treat her wounds, but I'm going to need some things to do it." He said with an all-serious stare. Returning his stern expression, I said;

"Anything."

He needed some phials of cleanser, first-aid drinks and as many herbs as we could find. He also tasked Suzaku with going to the village and retrieving the biggest spools of cloth he could get. We all departed on our tasks, RT, Citrine and I heading off towards the base camp and Suzaku to the village. Po wouldn't be attacked - the Lagiacrus could easily defend him, even while wounded. That, and I think there were only a few monsters on the island by now who had not allied with us.

At the Base Camp we were fortunate to find some old supplies that I had left there during some age-old mission, stashed under the bed. The supplies were definitely at least a year old, but were still usable. There was a large bottle of cleanser, some first-aid drinks and some dried-up herbs, but they would still work if mixed with the first-aid drinks. As I ground the herbs up and mixed them with the liquid inside the slightly dusty bottles, RT checked that the cleanser was still usable by giving it a sniff. He quickly withdrew, his nose wrinkled and with a deep scowl on his face.

"Yeah, definitely still good."

As we gathered up the supplies and moved to head back to Po, RT seemed to panic. He felt around a small indent on his armour – circular in shape, meant to hold a decoration. He gasped and looked rapidly around, as if he'd lost something.

"You okay?" I asked him, turning around to face him.

"No… I think I've lost one of my decorations…" He stammered.

"Just craft another, we don't have time to look for it." I said simply and moved to leave again when he stopped me.

"W-Wait! This decoration is important!"

I cast him a sideways glance, narrowing my eyes.

"How?"

"It was given to me by my mother… she was a hunter too, and she crafted it for me when I was just starting out… It's not very good, just a small Thunder Resistance one, but it's more a good luck charm than anything." He explained. My expression softened. My parents hadn't really been around, although that wasn't their fault – my dad was a hunter and had been killed by a Rathalos during an urgent quest. My mother was so stricken with grief that she took her own life. The Village Chief took me in and I was raised alongside Alpha. It never affected me much, I had always been so focused on becoming a hunter myself that I'd never had time to think about it. Despite that, I did sympathize with him – I couldn't allow him to lose one of the links he had to his family. I retained no links to them, and I was ashamed to say that I couldn't even remember what my parents looked like. If I got the chance to avoid somebody else losing their family or anything involving them, I would take it. I placed the stuff on the ground and turned to head back over to the base.

"Well, we should find it then-!"

Citrine went charging past me on her tiny legs, almost knocking me off of my feet. She stopped by RT and wagged her tail like a dog – and that was when I caught sight of the shining yellow between her teeth. The older hunter looked stunned, but wordlessly held out his hand. Into it Citrine dropped the sought after decoration, a little scuffed from the drop and also now covered in Ludroth saliva. He didn't care, he just seemed glad that he found it, and happily popped it back into its indent.

After that was done, we finally reached Po, and while he applied the first aid ointment to the Lagi's wound, we heard the sounds of a struggle behind us and saw that Suzaku was dragging behind him a huge solid wooden spool, rounded with white cloth. Just what we needed to act as bandages. We moved to help him and I spotted a Jaggi nearby the entrance to the Jaggi nest, watching us curiously. After a few seconds of standing there in silence it spun on its tiny heels and zipped away, back into the shade of the Jaggi lair.

We were making good progress with the spool until Suzaku finally lost all his strength and collapsed. RT and I weren't strong enough to get it any closer to the Lagi, and it was still too far away for Po to make any use of it. The poor Lagiacrus lowered its head to the ground in groaned with the sting of the ointment.

"This will help, don't worry." Po told the creature and she gave an annoyed swish of her tail. She didn't like being seen so helpless like this.

From the Jaggi lair emerged a familiar Great Jaggi and a small group of Jaggia. Without even casting us a glance they moved towards the spool and began to push it along, the Great Jaggi putting in the most effort. When Po directed them so, they stopped and withdrew, the Great Jaggi staying behind to oversee things. It was my friend with the limp, and as Po, Suzaku and RT started to use the cloth as a bandage for the troubled leviathan, he came over and leaned his head on my shoulder. I placed my hand upon his nose and simply watched as the boys worked. Citrine strolled over and stood on my other side. It was a strange feeling, having two monsters at your side, and knowing that they aren't trying to kill you – in fact, they were your allies. Your _friends. _

I thought back to the two Raths we had resting at the farm. The second I got back I would need to check on them. They'll be getting hungry soon. I should get some meat for them on the way back…

With a nice little bandage around her neck, we sent the Lagiacrus back to the ocean to rest. We were going to do the same – there was no point in continuing the hunt tonight, the Teostra was probably dead anyway. Tomorrow we planned to go out and find it again, and if it was dead, take back the World Crystal. If not, we could easily finish it off. The Great Jaggi escorted us back the village and then left us to return to the nest. Things were quiet for the rest of the night – for the first night in ages I was able to sleep peacefully. The Teostra was dead, or at the very least nearly. It would, as of tomorrow, no longer cause a problem, of that I would make sure.

* * *

Thank you so much for your continued support, guys. I know that over the years that it has taken me to write this story that I will have lost and gained a lot of readers, but I hope that most of you are still here. With the release of MH3U and me obtaining it that old hunting fire has been rekindled and the ideas for this story have been flooding in to the point where I don't know what ones to use! But this I can definitely tell you - I'm not giving up on this story again. I want to see this tale through to the very end and I hope that you will continue to accompany me on this adventure, and hopefully you'll still be there if I choose to write a sequel, which I do have some very rough plans for!

Once again, thank you so much for staying with me, or if you are a first-time reader, thank you so much for reading! But this tale is far from over, expect Chapter 12 soon!

PS - I'm having ideas for a Monster Hunter story set in a post-apocalyptic modern-day setting, and I know this idea has been done many times before, but I am being careful to make it as unique as possible. Would anybody read that if I was to post it? If anybody is interested I could write a little more about it in the next chapter!

~Lagiacrus


	13. Chapter 12: Death and Life

The next morning Suzaku and I awoke at the same time, and wordlessly equipped our armour. Citrine was swimming in the water outside. I beckoned her back inside and the three of us left the house and met RT who was talking with Alpha. Alpha looked like he was ready for war. RT kept fiddling needlessly with the decoration that had come loose from his armour yesterday. As we approached, Alpha greeted us with a cocky smile.

"Well, about time you two were up. Today's the day!"

"For what?" Suzaku asked and we looked at him like he was drugged.

"Today is the day that the Teostra dies." I reminded him, and he mouthed a silent 'oh' and looked down in humiliation. Citrine gave his leg an affectionate head-butt.

"And I'm gonna help out." Alpha pointed to himself and held out his unimpressive hunting bow for us to see. I frowned.

"How?" I asked him and he seemed seriously offended.

"Whaddya mean 'how'!? I'm going to help you kill it! You need a bit of long-range attack on your team!" He scolded me and I sighed.

"Well, whatever you say."

"Wait! Wait for me!" A hyper voice called from behind us. We turned around and saw Po running towards us from the trading ship. The first thing I noticed was that he wasn't in his usual attire – he was wearing standard Alloy armour, and on his back was a Jaggi sword & shield. The armour was clearly too big on him, and the helmet kept falling over his eyes. He was quite a sight – he looked like a child trying to get away with wearing adult clothing.

"Po… you aren't planning on fighting with us, are you?" I said in worry. Sure, I had had the idea myself but it was a stupid last-minute thing that I was hoping we wouldn't have to do.

"I feel pretty useless when I'm out with you hunting… maybe I can be of more use now." He told me with a stern expression. His mind was made up. There was no convincing him otherwise.

And so me, Citrine, Suzaku, RT, Alpha AND Po headed out to see if we could track down the hopefully dead Teostra. We first checked the Wyvern Nest – he wasn't there. Then we checked the caves – nothing there either. We checked the waterfall and the tunnels, and found nothing. As we passed respectfully through the Jaggi nest, some of the Jaggia broke away and followed us, adding to our already pretty big hunting party. As we entered the cavernous area where the water began, we saw the Teostra lying haphazardly across his back, breathing heavily. The whole area had turned into a sea of blood, both in the water and staining the grass. The Jaggia started going crazy – the scent of Teostra blood was obviously something they didn't like.

Before I could issue any kind of orders, RT had rushed forward and his switch axe had unsheathed and clicked into place. Alpha readied his bow with an arrow and Suzaku and I began to advance, preparing to rush in when RT sounded the alarm. Citrine and the Jaggia started their own attack, advancing for the Teostra's flank. RT's switch axe inevitably sliced effortlessly right down the Teostra's face, rendering one of the beast's eyes useless. And so forward we charged.

"RT, aim for the stomach now! We'll handle the face!" I shouted to him and he nodded, rolling under the pink beast as it burst to life, lifting up onto two legs and letting out an ear-shattering screech. Much to my surprise, Po roared like an ancient barbarian in reply and went charging in, weapons drawn and arms flailing – and actually landed a direct hit, right in between the beast's eyes.

That was it. That was the blow that did it. The beast froze in its tracks, emitted a roar, then a gurgled cry and lastly a whimper before it collapsed forward with the blade still stuck deep between its eyes and breathed its last.

It was so anti-climactic. I was so wound up and ready for more action that I had to kill some Altaroth just to calm down. Alpha sheathed his bow, disenchanted, while Po wrenched his sword from the Teostra's skull and gave the monster's corpse a fierce kick, grinning all the while. It was over. Just like that…

"Umm, guys…" Making me grimace, Suzaku emerged covered in innards from the Teostra's stomach, which RT had kindly sliced open. "The World Crystal isn't there." My heart did a backflip and then divebombed into the deepest recesses of my stomach. I couldn't believe it… all of that effort, uncertainty, death and confusion… and it wasn't even there!?

"How can it not be there? It must be there," I snarled – I didn't want to get angry at him but I just couldn't help it. There was nothing else to take my anger out on anymore. "You said it was there, _you said!" _

"I know I did," He frowned. "Perhaps the Teostra spat it out after we wounded him. It could still be around here somewhere."

"It is a possibility! It is not uncommon for monsters to vomit after suffering heavy blood loss. It is especially common in winged wyverns." Po confirmed. RT immediately began searching nearby, particularly in the more bloody areas. However, he returned empty-handed even with the help of Citrine's keen nose. He looked so downtrodden and frustrated – feelings I currently shared. Surprisingly, Suzaku seemed the calmest out of us all, despite the fact that it was his way home at stake.

"I don't want any of you to get frustrated over this. I don't care if I get to go home – what matters to me now is insuring that this island is safe from the monsters of my World," He announced – his eyes gleamed in the faint light of the cavern. I was transfixed on them for a moment, unable to look anywhere else. "Believe it or not, but you guys have it easy here and I want to keep it that way."

"What are you saying? Surely your world must need a hunter like you!?" RT objected, stepping forward with a worried frown.

"Actually, there's something I didn't mention earlier…" His nervous tone of voice caught my attention.

"What? Please don't tell me that something else followed you through the portal?" I begged. He merely smirked amusedly.

"No, not quite that serious. But, I should probably spill the beans," He said with a shaky sigh, before looking me right in the eyes – nowhere else. Only at me. "I'm only a Novice hunter. I shouldn't even have been hunting the Teostra."

Everybody who was present, even the Jaggia, gawked.

"The Teostra is a High-ranking monster where I come from. The quest that I took should only have been given to a hunter like you or Neeshka." He told us.

"Well then, how did you get accepted by the guild for the quest?" RT's voice was nearly inaudible, he was so shocked.

"I have friends in high places back home." Suzaku mumbled in reply.

"But…" I walked up to him on shaking legs, placing a hand on his cheek. "Why?"

"…I had a particular grudge against this Teostra. I wanted to see him dead myself – I didn't want some blowhard hunter doing it for me," he growled, looking back to the beast as if checking for any vital signs.

"Grudge?" RT inquired. I shook my head at him, but Suzaku put his hand on my shoulder and smiled. _It's alright, _his gesture seemed to say. Then, his expression blank once again, he looked to RT.

"I once had an older brother. He was a hunter, much like my father was and his father before him. Three years ago, I was training under him to join the guild myself when the… incident happened." He began, hesitant, uneasy. I shook my head at him. _You don't have to do this. _But he simply flashed the same smile as before and continued.

"He accepted a quest to take down this Teostra, him and a friend from the City. They set off together and never returned. I don't even knew if it was the Teostra that got him – but _somebody or something _had to pay," He seethed. "I've been tracking him ever since, waiting for the Guild to issue another quest to take him down. When they did, I had some strings pulled and joined three other hunters to take him down. They were killed within minutes, then the Teostra swallowed the crystal…" He trailed off. I brushed my thumb over his cheek – I'm not sure if I meant it as a form of comfort or something else. It just felt like something I had to do. He smiled again, placing his gory hand over mine. RT looked a cross between sympathetic and horrified, but did his best to hide both. He held out his hand to Suzaku, who gave him a confused look.

"It has been an honour fighting alongside you today, Suzaku." He stuttered. Suzaku's face suddenly erupted in a wide grin and they shook hands.

"Same to you."

However the pleasant atmosphere between us wasn't to last. Only minutes later we were still standing in the same spot, arguing over where to next search for the World Crystal. To be honest, we all had absolutely no idea where to even begin – I figured the Teostra had thrown it up somewhere, like what Po suggested. RT wondered if it was still in the beast's body and Suzaku had missed it, to which he retorted that even if it _was _still in there he most certainly would not be going back in to get it out. Alpha was worried that the beast had dropped it while flying and that we would never find it, or that another monster had swallowed it. Citrine barked along with us, although we remained unaware of what her opinion on the matter was. The Jaggia had long since left, evidently bored by our humanoid squabbling.

Over the sound of our argument, Citrine caught on to a curious sound and alerted us with a series of alarming barks, before sliding on her belly back in the direction of the Jaggi nest. Catching on to the mysterious noise ourselves, we wordlessly followed her, expressions grim and hands clasped on weapon hilts. All of us were filled with a dread that the strange, unearthly sound had something to do with the World Crystal – and to our dread, we were very much correct.

Exiting the Jaggi nest back onto open ground, there was a strange, purple shimmering disk hanging high above us in the sky. Looking through it was a whole other world, featuring a dusty valley, similar to the Sandy Plains but much different in appearance. We didn't get to look very long – in the next instant it was closing and before we could so much as speak to one another it was gone, like it had never been there. Suzaku heaved a huge sigh of relief and turned to us with a smile.

"Well, that was a World Crystal portal, but I guess nothing came through-!" From nowhere a titanic black being swooped down and snatched Suzaku up in its massive claws, before beating its mighty wings and shooting back up into the sky, knocking us off our feet.

"Suzaku!" I screamed, but I could see no more of him or the monster through the dust. He didn't even reply, if he was even able. Gulping with fear, I rocketed to my feet and drew the Demonbane, praying to whatever Gods that watched over us that Suzaku was alright in the grip of the unknown monster – and then the dust began to clear.

Hovering high above us, with Suzaku unconscious in its claws, was an abnormally large black and red Rathian. It was no subspecies I had ever seen and one glance at Po told me that this was yet another new species altogether. He was just as clueless as the rest of us.

"What is that thing!?" RT roared, drawing his own switch axe with a wolfish snarl.

"Judging by the spines on its tail, it's a Rathian, but it is unlike anything I have ever seen before." Po replied scientifically, before being elbowed by Alpha. Nervously, he turned back to the monster and drew his bloodstained sword.

Regardless of the monster's intentions, whether they were evil or not, I found myself lacking of the ability to issue an attack command. Images of the Rathian mother flashed before my eyes, pounding against my temples and forcing me to the ground. With the Rathian I had watched die still clear in my mind's eye, I felt the most painful nauseating wave I ever had in my life. The oddly coloured Rathian unleashed a piercing roar that shattered my thoughts and brought me into more confusion. I thought I heard RT call for me to get up, but I barely picked up on it. What was this – telepathy? Was somebody showing me something, or trying to communicate with me? I felt my mind was connected with another's, but I could not focus on them or make any sense of my own wellbeing. Images of something else combined with that of the Rathian mother – flashes of red – but nothing clear.

Somewhere amidst the overwhelming chaos of my mind, something else emerged. The voice of another, deep, proud and strong, rung out over RT's words of encouragement and the Rathian's roaring. That voice seemed to calm the turmoil of my soul and made me feel at peace, like the voice was the only one I could trust. While at first the voice's words were incoherent, suddenly and with no warning I saw the mental image of a reptilian blue eye and accompanying it the voice said in a commanding, protective tone;

"I am here."

* * *

After another year-long wait, here is Chapter 12. I never really stopped working on this - Chapter 12 just took a year. However, this chapter is actually short deliberately so I could fit in the cliffhanger that I had always been aiming for with this chapter. The ideas really weren't flowing, and it didn't help that I got stuck on MH3U and stopped playing it altogether, although that really isn't an excuse on my part. I look forward to hearing what you guys think is going to happen!

I managed to get this finished today. For my readers who are still around, enjoy. I don't think this story is going to go on for much longer. For those who are still reading this tale after I posted the Prologue in 2010, I am so grateful to you and I admire your patience. XD

~Lagiacrus


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